Justin's

or 140.

much exaggerated: but, whatever they were, the whole Christian name was accused of them. They were charged with incest, and the devouring of infants; and thus a handle was afforded for the barbarous treatment of the best of mankind; till time detected the slanders, and men became at length ashamed of affecting to believe what was in its own nature improbable, and was supported by no evidence. It pleased God at this time to endow some Christians with the power of defending his truth by the manly arms of rational argumentation. Justin Martyr presented his first Apology to the emperor Anto- Apology. ninus Pius, about the third year of his reign, A. D. A.D. 139, 140. He was of that class of men, who, in those days, were usually called philosophers. His conversion to Christianity, his views and spirit, his labours and sufferings, will deserve to be considered in a distinct chapter. Suffice it here to say, that the information and arguments, which his first Apology contained, were not in vain. Antoninus was a man of sense and humanity. Open to conviction, uncorrupted by the vain and chimerical philosophy of the times, he was desirous of doing justice to all mankind. Asia propria was still the scene of vital Christianity and of cruel persecution. Thence the Christians applied to Antoninus; and complained of the many injuries which they sustained from the people of the country. Earthquakes, it seems, had lately happened; and the Pagans were much terrified, and ascribed them to the vengeance of Heaven against the Christians. We have, both in Eusebius* and at the end of Justin's first Apology, the edict sent to the common council of Asia; every line of which deserves

attention.

The Emperor, to the Common Council of Asia.

["I am persuaded that the gods will take care that such persons shall not escape, for much more should they punish those who refuse to worship them than you :-you drive them into tumult, and confirm them in their opinions by accusing them as devoid of piety; but they would prefer the appearance of dying under accusation for their God, even to life, and hence they gain their point by exposing

* B. iv. c. 13.

their lives to death, rather than by complying with your injunctions. As to the earthquakes which have happened in past times or recently, is it not proper to remind you, who are in despondency when they happen, to compare your spirit with theirs; they are more frequent and earnest in their addresses to God, but you, in all such seasons, seem not to know the Gods and to neglect their worship. You live in the practical ignorance of the supreme God, and you harass and persecute to the death, the Christians who do worship him. Concerning such persons, many of the provincial governors wrote to our divine Father, to whom he returned answer, "that they should not be molested unless they appeared to attempt any thing against the Roman government." Many also have made communications to me concerning these men, to whom I have returned an answer agreeable to the maxims of my Father.] But if any person will still persist in accusing the Christians merely as such, -Let the accused be acquitted, though he appear to be a Christian; and let the accuser be punished.-Set up at Ephesus in the common assembly of Asia.*

Eusebius informs us [in an extract from Melito ] that this was no empty edict, but was really put in execution. Nor did this emperor content himself with one edict. He wrote to the same purport to the Larisseans, the Thessalonians, the Athenians, and all the Greeks.

As this prince reigned 23 years, such vigorous measures must, after some time at least, have had their effect. And we may fairly conclude that during a great part of this reign the Christians were permitted to worship God in peace. A few remarks on the conduct of this prince, and on the facts which appear on the face of his edict, may be judged not improper.

1. There are, it seems, some instances of princes, even in ancient history, not unacquainted with the just principles of religious liberty, which are now more generally understood. The most intelligent legislator, in any age, never understood the natural rights of conscience better than Antoninus Pius. He saw that Christians, AS SUCH, ought not to be punished. His subjects, bigoted and barbarous, were far from thinking

* [The genuineness of this letter is much questioned. See Waddington's Hist. of the Church, p. 118.] + [Melito ap. Euseb. iv. c. 26.]

so; and it was not till after repeated edicts and menaces, that he forced them to cease from persecution.

2. In the conduct of this emperor one may observe how far human nature can advance in moral virtue by its natural resources, while it remains destitute of the grace of God and the superior principle of holiness. If the advocates of natural morality, considered as abstracted from Christianity, were to fix on a character the most able to support the weight of their cause, it would be their interest to put it into the hands of Antoninus Pius. He would defend it, not with pompous systems and declamatory flourishes, but by an amiable, generous, and magnanimous conduct. I have been astonished at the character that is recorded of him. Doubtless a more distinct and explicit detail of his life would lessen our admiration. We have not the opportunity of knowing him so thoroughly as we do Socrates and Cicero. The former, by the writings of his scholars, the latter by his own, are known as minutely as if they were our contemporaries. Could the emperor be as accurately scrutinized, possibly something of the supercilious pride of the Grecian, or of the ridiculous vain-glory of the Roman patriot, might appear. They are both allowed to be very eminent patterns of moral virtue; but yet, with all the disadvantages of such imperfect historians as Victor and Julius Capitolinus, they must concede the palm to Antoninus. Despotic power, in his hands, seems to have been only an instrument of doing good to mankind. His temper was mild and gentle in a very high degree; yet the vigour of his government was as striking, as if he had been of the most keen and irritable disposition. He consulted the welfare of his subjects with great diligence: He attended to all persons and things with as minute an exactness, as if his own private property had been concerned.* Scarcely any fault is ascribed to him, but that of a temper excessively inquisitive. His successor, the second Antoninus, owns, that he was religious without superstition; and in particular, that he was not superstitious in the worship of the gods. This we have in his Stoical Meditations, still extant.† We cannot therefore doubt but that a person of

*Juli. Capitol. Vit. [Tit.] Ant. chap. vii. ap. Lardner, vol. 4. chap. xiv, [p. 71.] + Book vi. [Sect. 30. ap. Lardner, vol. 4. c, 15. p. 73, |

this stamp would find opportunities of knowing what Christianity was. He certainly did know something of it, and he approved of the moral conduct of Christians. He gives them the most honourable character, has no fear of them as disloyal or turbulent, and makes comparisons between them and Pagans to the advantage of the former. Were there no God, no divine providence, and no future state, the virtue of this man would doubtless be as complete, and as consistent as so absurd an hypothesis will permit but his case shows, that it is possible, by the united influence of good sense and good temper, for a man to be extremely beneficent to his fellow-creatures without due regard to his Maker. Surely-if the holiness of a truly-converted Christian, and the mere moral virtue of a "natural man," were the same things; Antoninus ought to be esteemed a Christian. Yet it does not appear that he ever seriously studied the Gospel. A sceptical carelessness and indifference, not unlike that temper, which, under the names of candour and moderation, has now overspread the face of Europe, appears to have possessed the mind of this amiable prince: and, while he attended to the temporal advantages of mankind, and felicitated himself on his good actions, he seemed to forget that he had a soul accountable to the Supreme Being; and scarcely to think it possible, that it should have any guilt to answer for before HIM. The evil of such a contempt of God is what mankind are of all things least inclined to discern: Yet it is the evil of all others the most vehemently reprobated in Scripture under the several branches of idolatry, unbelief, self-righteousness, and pride. No wonder ;-for, without a knowledge of this evil, and a humble sense of guilt in consequence, the very nature of the Gospel itself cannot be understood. The conclusion resulting from this consideration is, that godliness is perfectly distinct from mere morality: The latter indeed always flourishes where godliness is: but it is capable of a separate existence.

3. The edict of this good emperor is a singularly valuable testimony in favour of the Christians of that time. It appears that there were then a race of men devoted to the service of Christ; ready to die for his name and for his religion. These men exemplified the superior worth of

-an

their religion by a superior probity and innocence of manners, so as to appear the best of subjects in the opinion of an emperor of the highest candour, intelligence, and acute observation. They were not inferior to the most excellent of the heathens in morality: and they possessed, further, what this emperor confesses their enemies were void of,a sincere spirit of reverence for the Supreme Being, unaffected contempt of death,-and that to which Stoicism pretends a real serenity of mind under the most pressing dangers; and all this grounded on an unshaken confidence in God. We cannot but hence conclude; that the effusion of the Spirit of God, which began at the feast of Pentecost, was still continued. By the testimony of an heathen prince, Christians were SO IN POWER, and NOT IN NAME ONLY: and those, who would substitute the virtue of the morality of fallen man in the place of the religion of Christians, would do well to consider, that sound virtue and sound morality themselves know no support like that of Christianity. This divine religion comprehends every possible excellence that can be found in all others; and has, over and above, its own PECULIAR virtues: It possesses a fund of consolation, and an energy of support under the prospect of death itself; and it points out the only safe and sure road to a blissful immortality.

CHAP. III.

JUSTIN MARTYR.

THIS great man was born at Neapolis* in Samaria, anciently called Sichem. His father was a Gentile,—probably one of the Greeks belonging to the colony transplanted thither: He gave his son a philosophical education. `Justin in his youth travelled for the improvement of his understanding; and Alexandria afforded him all the entertainment which an inquisitive mind could derive from the fashionable studies. The Stoics appeared to him at first the masters of happiness. He gave himself up to one of this sect, till he found he could learn from him nothing of the nature of

華

[At present Napalose or Nablous, a corruption from vea modis.]