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III. PART I.

were put to death in consequence of this law. CENT. Among these Leonidas, the father of Origen, Perpetua and Felicitas (those two famous African ladies, whose acts [o] are come down to our times,) Potamiena Marcella, and other martyrs of both sexes acquired an illustrious name by the magnanimity and tranquillity with which they endured the most cruel sufferings.

II. From the death of Severus to the reign of That under Maximin, the condition of the Christians was, Maximin. in some places, prosperous, and, in all, supportable. But with Maximin the face of affairs changed. This unworthy emperor, having animated the Roman soldiers to assassinate Alexander Severus, dreaded the resentment of the Christians, whom that excellent prince had favoured and protected in a distinguished manner; and, for this reason, he ordered the bishops, whom he knew that Alexander had always treated as his intimate friends, to be seized and put to death [p]. During his reign, the Christians suffered in the most barbarous manner; for, though the edict of this tyrant extended only to the bishops and leaders of the Christian church, yet its shocking effects reached much farther; as it animated the heathen priests, the magistrates, and the multitude, against Christians of every rank and order [q].

III. This storm was succeeded by a calm, in Many which the Christians enjoyed an happy tranquil- in conse

Christians

lity for many years. The accession of Decius celty

quence of

Trajan to the imperial throne, in the year of Decius, 249, raised a new tempest, in which the fury become of persecution fell in a dreadful manner upon the chargeable church tion.

[o] Theod. Ruinart, Acta Martyr. p. 90.

[p] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. xxviii. p. 225. Orosius, Hist. lib. vii. cap. xix. p. 509.

[9] Origen. tom. xxviii. in Matth. opp. tom. i. p. 137. See also Firmilianus, in Cypriani, Epistolis, p. 140.

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CENT. church of Christ. For this emperor, either III. from an ill-grounded fear of the Christians, or PART I. from a violent zeal for the superstition of his ancestors, published most terrible and cruel edicts; by which the prætors were ordered, upon pain of death, either to extirpate the whole body of Christians without exception, or to force them, by torments of various kinds, to return to the Pagan worship. Hence in all the provinces of the empire, multitudes of Christians were, during the space of two years, put to death by the most horrid punishments [r], which an ingenious barbarity could invent. The most unhappy circumstance of all these cruelties was, their fatal influence upon the faith and constancy of many of the sufferers; for as this persecution was much more terrible than all those that preceded it, so a great number of Christians, dismayed, not at the approach of death, but at the aspect of those dreadful and lingering torments, which a barbarous magistracy had prepared to combat their constancy, fell from the profession of their faith, and secured themselves from punishment, either by offering sacrifices, or by burning incense, before the images of the gods, or by purchasing certificates from the Pagan priests. Hence arose the opprobrious names of Sacrificati, given to those who sacrificed; Thurificati, to those who burned incense; and Libellatici, to those who produced certificates [s].

[r] Eusebius,

IV.

Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. xxxix. p. 234.
Gregorius Nyss. in vita Thaumaturgi, tom.

cap. xli. p. 238.
iii. opp. p. 568. Cyprianus, De Lapsis. p. 182.

[s] These certificates were not all equally criminal, nor supposed all a degree of apostasy equally enormous. It is therefore necessary to advertise the reader of the following distinctions omitted by Dr. Mosheim: These certificates were sometimes no more than a permission to abstain from sacrificing, obtained by a fee given to the judges, and were not looked upon as an act of apostasy, unless the Christians, who

demanded

PART I.

the defec

Christians.

IV. This defection of such a prodigious num- CENT. ber of Christians under Decius, was the occasion III. of great commotions in the church, and produced debates of a very difficult and delicate nature. Warm conFor the lapsed, or those that had fallen from their tests occaChristian profession, were desirous to be restored sioned by to church-communion, without submitting to that tion of painful course of penitential discipline, which the ecclesiastical laws indispensably required. The bishops were divided upon this matter: some were for shewing the desired indulgence, while others opposed it with all their might [t]. In Egypt and Africa, many, in order to obtain more speedily the pardon of their apostasy, interested the martyrs in their behalf, and received from them letters of reconciliation and peace *, i. e. a Libellos formal act, by which they (the martyrs) declared in their last moments, that they looked upon them as worthy of their communion, and desired, of consequence, that they should be restored to their place among the brethren. Some bishops and presbyters re-admitted into the church, with too much facility, apostates and transgressors, who produced such testimonies as these. But Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, a man of severe wisdom, and great dignity of character, acted in quite another way. Though he had no intention

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demanded them, had declared to the judges that they had
conformed themselves to the emperor's edicts. But, at other
times, they contained a profession of paganism, and were
either offered voluntarily by the apostate, or were subscribed
by him, when they were presented to him by the persecuting
magistrates. Many used certificates, as letters of security,
obtained from the priests at a high rate, and which dispensed
them from either professing or denying their sentiments. See
Spanheim. Historia Christiana, p. 732, 733.
See also Prud.
Maranus in vita Cypriani, operibus ejus præmissa, sect. 6. p.

54.

[] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. xliv. Cypr. Episto læ, in many places.

*

III.

PART I.

CENT. to derogate from the authority of the venerable martyrs, yet he opposed with vigour this unreasonable lenity, and set limits to the efficacy of these letters of reconciliation and peace. Hence arose a keen dispute between him and the martyrs, confessors, presbyters, and lapsed, seconded by the people; and yet, notwithstanding this formidable multitude of adversaries, the venerable bishop came off victorious [u].

The perse

cutions un

sianus.

V. Gallus, the successor of Decius, and der Gallus Volusianus, son of the former, re-animated the and Volu- flame of persecution, which was beginning to burn with less fury [w]. And, besides the sufferings which the Christians had to undergo in consequence of their cruel edicts, they were also involved in the public calamities that prevailed at this time, and suffered grievously from a terrible pestilence, which spread desolation through many provinces of the empire [x]. This pestilence also was an occasion which the Pagan priests used with dexterity to renew the rage of persecution against them, by persuading the people that it was on account of the lenity used toward the Christians, that the gods sent down their judgments upon the nations. In the year 254, Valerian being declared emperor, made the fury of persecution cease, and restored the church to a state of tranquillity.

Under Va

lerian.

VI. The clemency and benevolence which Valerian shewed to the Christians, continued until the fifth year of his reign. Then the scene

began

[u] The whole history of this controversy may be gathered from the epistles of Cyprian. See also Gabr. Albaspinæus, Observat. Eccles. lib. i. observ. xx. p. 94. Dallæus De pænis et satisfactionibus humanis, lib. vii. cap. xvi. p, 706.

[n] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. i. p. 250. Cyprian, Epist. lvii. lviii.

[x] Vid. Cypriani Lib. ad Demetrianum,

III. PART I.

began to change, and, the change indeed was sud- CENT. den. Macrianus, a superstitious and cruel bigot to paganism, had gained an entire ascendant. over Valerian, and was his chief counsellor in every thing that related to the administration of the government. By the persuasion of this imperious minister, the Christians were prohibited to assemble themselves together, and their bishops and doctors were sent into banishment. This edict was published in the year 257, and was followed the year after, by one still more severe; in consequence of which, a considerable number of Christians, in all the different provinces of the empire, were put to death, and that by such cruel methods of execution, as were much more terrible than death itself. Of those that suffered in this persecution, the most eminent were Cyprian, bishop of Carthage; Sixtus, bishop of Rome; and Laurentius, a Roman deacon, who was barbarously consumed by a slow and lingering fire. An unexpected event suspended, for a while, the sufferings of the Christians. Valerian was made prisoner in the war against the Persians; and his son Gallienus, in the year 260, restored peace to the church [y].

church un

nus, Clau

dius, and

VII. The condition of the Christians was ra- The state ther supportable than happy, under the reign of of the Gallienus, which lasted eight years; as also der Gallieunder the short administration of his successor Claudius. Nor did they suffer much during the Aurelian, first four years of the reign of Aurelian, who was raised to the empire in the year 270. But the fifth year of this emperor's administration would have proved fatal to them, had not his violent

[y] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. x, xi. p. 255. Acta Cypriani as they are to be found in the Acta Martyrum Ruinarti, p. 216. Cypriani Epist. lxxvii. p. 158. edit. Baluz. Lxxxii. p. 165.

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