II. PART I What coun with the III. It is not easy to point out particularly the CENT. different countries on which the light of celestial truth first arose in this age. The ancient records that yet remain, do not give us information sufficient to determine that matter with certainty; nor tries were is it, indeed, a matter of much importance. We enlightened are, however, assured, by the most unexception- gospel. able testimonies, that Christ was worshipped as God almost throughout the whole East, as also among the Germans, Spaniards, Celts, Britons, and many other nations [d]; but which of them received the gospel in the first century, and which in the second, is a question unanswerable at this distance of time. Pantænus, the head of the Alexandrian school, is said to have conveyed to the Indians the knowledge of Christ [e]. But, after an attentive examination of the account which Eusebius gives of this matter, it will appear, that these Indians were certain Jews, inhabitants of the Happy Arabia, whom Bartholomew the apostle, had before instructed in the doctrines of Christianity. For, according to the account of St. Jerom, Pantænus found among this people the gospel of St. Matthew, which they had received from Bartholomew their first teacher. the Ger IV. The Christian religion, having penetrated The conamong the Gauls, seems to have passed from version of thence into that part of Germany which was mans. subject to the Romans, and from thence into Britain [f]. Certain German churches, indeed, nent. See also the Dialogue between Justin Martyr and Trypho the Jew, p. 341. [d] Irenæus contr. Hæres. lib. i. cap. x. Tertullian adv. Judæos, cap. 7. p. 212. [e] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. book v. c. x. Jerome Catal. Scriptor. Eccles. c. xxxvi. [f] Ursinus, Bebelius, and others, have written learnedly concerning the origin of the German churches, which Ter PART I. CENT. are fondly ambitious of deriving their origin from II. St. Peter, and from the companions of the other apostles. The Britons also are willing to believe, upon the authority of Bede, that in this century, and under the reign of Marcus Antoninus, their king Lucius addressed himself to Eleutherus, the Roman Pontiff, for doctors to instruct him in the Christian religion, and having obtained his request, embraced the gospel [g]. But, after all, these traditions are extremely doubtful, and are, indeed, rejected by such as have learning sufficient to weigh the credibility of ancient narrations. Conversion V. It is very possible, that the light of Christianity may have reached Transalpine Gaul, now called France, before the conclusion of the apostolic age, either by the ministry of the apostles themselves, or their immediate successors. But we have no records that mention, with certainty, the establishment of Christian churches in this part of Europe before the second century. Pothinus, a man of exemplary piety and zeal, set out from Asia in company with Irenæus and others, and laboured in the Christian cause with such success among the Gauls, that churches were established at Lyons and Vienna, of which Pothinus himself was the first bishop [h], of the Gauls. tullian and Irenæus mention as erected in this century. Add to these, the ample iilustrations of this subject which are to be found in Liron's Singularités Histor. et Litter. tom. iv. p. 193. The celebrated Dom. Calmet has judiciously refuted the common and popular accounts of the first Christian doctors in Germany, in his Hist. de la Lorraine, tom. i. Diss. sur les Evêques de Treves, Par. III. IV. See also Bollandus, Act. Sanctor. p. 922. Hontheim Diss. de Era Episcop. Trevir. tom. i. Hist. Trevir. ; as also 7. and Rapin's [g] See Usher Antiq. Eccles. Britan. cap. i. p. Godwin, De Conversione Britan. cap. i. p. History of England. concerning the [h] See the epistle of Petrus de Marca, first rise of Christianity in France, published among the dis II. PART I. Transla ment. VI. The writers of this century attribute this CENT. rapid progress of Christianity to the power of God, to the energy of divine truth, to the extraordinary gifts which were imparted to the first Christians, and the miracles and prodigies that tions of the were wrought in their behalf, and at their com- New Testa mand; nor do they ascribe almost any part of the amazing success that attended the preaching of the gospel, to the intervening succours of human means, or second causes. But this is carrying the matter too far. The wisdom of human counsels, and the useful efforts of learning and prudence, are too inconsiderately excluded from this account of things. For it is beyond all doubt, that the pious diligence and zeal, with which many learned and worthy men recommended the sacred writings, and spread them abroad in translations, which rendered them useful to those who are ignorant of the language in which they were written, contributed much to the success and propagation of the Christian doctrine. Latin versions of these sacred books were multiplied by the pious labours of the learned, with particular diligence, because that language was now more universal than any other [i]. Among these versions, that which was distinguished by the name of the Italic obtained universally the preference, and was followed by the Syriac, Egyptian, and Ethiopic versions, whose dates it is impossible to fix with certainty [k]. sertations of that author; and also by Valesius, in his edition of Eusebius Ecclesiastical History. See also Histoire Litteraire de la France, tom. i. p. 223. Liron's Singularités Histor. et Litteraires, vol. iv. [i] See Augustin. De Doctrina Christiana, lib. ii. cap. xi. P1 85. edit. Calixt. [k] See Jo. Gottlob. Carpzov. Critica Sacra Vet. Test. p. 663. CENT. PART I. VII. Among the obstacles that retarded the proII. gress of Christianity, the impious calumnies of its enemies were the most considerable. The persons, the characters, and religious sentiments of defended, the first Christians were most unjustly treated, and heretics and most perfidiously misrepresented to the cre Christians refuted. dulous multitude [7] who were restrained by this only from embracing the gospel. Those, therefore, who by their apologetic writings in favour of the Christians, destroyed the poisonous influence of detraction, rendered, no doubt, signal service to the doctrine of Christ, by removing the chief impediment that retarded its progress. Nor were the writings of such as combated with success the ancient heretics without their use, especially in the early periods of the church. For the insipid and extravagant doctrines of these sectaries, and the gross immoralities with which they were chargeable, were extremely prejudicial to the Christian religion, by disgusting many at whatever carried the Christian name. But when it was known, by the writings of those who defended Christianity, that these corrupt heretics were held in aversion, instead of being patronized by the true followers of Christ, then the clouds that were cast over the religion of Jesus were dispersed, and the [1] Nothing more injurious can be conceived than the terms of contempt, indignation, and reproach, which the Heathens employed in expressing their hatred against the Christians, who were called by them atheists, because they derided the heathen polytheism; magicians, because they wrought miracles; selfmurderers, because they suffered martyrdom cheerfully for the truth; haters of the light, because, to avoid the fury of the persecutions raised against them, they were forced, at first, to hold their religious assemblies in the night; with a multitude of other ignominious epithets employed against them by Tacitus, Suetonius, Celsus, &c. See Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, book i. cap. ii. p. 5. prejudices that had been raised against it were CENT, fully removed. II. ᏢᎪᎡᎢ 1. VIII. It is easier to conceive than to express, how much the miraculous powers, and extraordi- Miracles nary gifts, which were displayed in the ministry and extraof the first heralds of the gospel, contributed to ordinary gifts. enlarge the bounds of the church. These gifts, however, which were given for wise and important reasons, began gradually to diminish in proportion as the reasons ceased for which they were conferred. And, accordingly, when almost all nations were enlightened with the truth, and the number of Christian churches increased daily in all places, then the miraculous gift of tongues began gradually to decrease. It appears, at the same time, from unexceptionable testimonies, that the other extraordinary gift with which the omnipotence and wisdom of the Most High had so richly endowed the rising church, were in several places continued during this century [m]. IX. We cannot indeed place, with any degree The miraof certainty, among the effects of a miraculous cle of the thundering power yet remaining in the church, the story of legion. the Christian legion, who, by their prayers, drew from heaven a refreshing shower upon the army of Marcus Antoninus, ready to perish with thirst, when that emperor was at war with the Marcomanni. This remarkable event (which gave to the Christians, to whom it was attributed, the name of the thundering legion, on account of the thunder and lightning that destroyed the enemy, while the shower revived the fainting Romans) has been mentioned by many writers. But whether it was really miraculous or not has been much disputed among learned men. Some [m] Pfanner, De Donis Miraculosis. Spencer, Not. ad Orig. contra Celsum, p. 5, 6. Mammachius Originum et Antiquitat. Christianar. tom. i. p. 363, &c. |