others. They cried, "We are Christians," and fell to the ground, that they might not enter the idol-temple. Pionius, after much resistance, was forced into it and placed on the ground before the altar; and there stood the unhappy Eudemon, after having sacrificed. Lepidus, a judge, asked; "What God do you adore ?" "Him," says Pionius, "that made heaven and earth." "You mean him that was crucified ?" "I mean him whom God the Father sent for the salvation of men." The judges then whispered to one another, and said, "We must compel them to say what we wish." Pionius heard them, and cried, "Blush, ye adorers of false gods: have some respect to justice, and obey your own laws: they enjoin you not to do violence to us; but merely to put us to death." Then Ruffinus said, " Forbear! Pionius, this thirst after vain-glory." "Is this your eloquence?" answered the martyr: "Is this what you have read in your books? Was not Socrates thus treated by the Athenians? According to your judgment and advice HE sought after vain-glory, because he applied himself to wisdom and virtue." Ruffinus was struck dumb. The case was apposite in a degree: Socrates, undoubtedly, suffered persecution on account of his zeal for moral virtue. A certain person placed a crown on Pionius's head, which he tore in pieces before the altar: The Pagans, finding their persuasions ineffectual, remanded them to prison A few days after this, the proconsul Quintilian returned to Smyrna, and examined Pionius. He then tried both tortures and persuasions in vain; and, at length, enraged at his obstinacy, he sentenced him to be burnt Martyrdom alive. The martyr went cheerfully to the place of Pionius. of execution, and thanked God, who had preserved his body pure from idolatry. After he was stretched and nailed to the wood, the executioner said to him, " Change your mind, and the nails shall be taken out." "I have felt them," answered Pionius: He then remained thoughtful for a time; afterward he said, "I hasten, O Lord, that I may the sooner be a partaker of the resurrection." Metrodorus, a Marcionite, was nailed to a plank of wood in a similar manner: They were then both placed upright; and a great quantity of fuel was heaped around them. Pionius, 99 with his eyes shut, remained motionless, absorbed in prayer while the fire was consuming him. At length he opened his eyes, and looking cheerfully on the fire, said, "Amen;" -his last words were, "Lord! receive my soul." Of the particular manner in which his companion suffered death we have no account. In this narrative we see the spirit of heavenly love triumphing over all worldly and selfish considerations. Does not the zeal of Pionius deserve to be commemorated as long as the world endures? The man appears to have forgotten his sufferings: He is wholly taken up in vindicating the divine truth to the last. Who can doubt of his having been a faithful preacher of the Gospel? He is intent on the blessed work amidst his bitterest pains. Glorious exemplification of true religion in its simplicity! If there be any thing particular in the treatment he underwent, it consists in the repeated endeavours which were made to preserve his life. The MAN was much respected, though the Christian was abhorred. Integrity and uprightness, when eminent, and supported by wisdom and learning, fail not to overawe, to captivate, and to soft en mankind. The voice of natural conscience pleads; but cannot overcome the enmity of the human heart against God. There are many good reasons which may be assigned why sound learning ought to be cultivated by Christians, and especially by all who mean to be pastors of Christ's flock. The case of Pionius clearly intimates this. Knowledge never fails to ensure respect. It does this a thousand times more effectually with mankind than birth or wealth, or rank, or power. It is evident that Pionius was a man of learning, and that his persecutors esteemed him on that account, and took pains to detach him from Christianity. We may conceive how useful this accomplishment had been in the course of his ministry. A Montanist and a Marcionite are the fellow-sufferers of this martyr: The latter is consumed with him in the flames. Doubtless, from all the information of antiquity, both these heresies appear in an odious light. But there might be exceptions, and who so likely to be among those exceptions, as those who suffered? We must not confine the truth of godliness to any particular denomination. Providence, by mixing persons of very opposite parties in the same scene of persecution, demonstrates that the pure faith and love of Jesus may operate in those who cannot own each other as brethren: I know not whether Pionius and Metrodorus did so on earth: I trust they do so in heaven. * In Asia a merchant named Maximus, was brought before Optimus the proconsul, who inquired after his condition? "I was born free," said he, " but I am the servant of Jesus Christ." "Of what profession are you?" "I live by commerce.' "Are you a Christian? "Though a sinner, yet I am a Christian." While the usual process of persuasions and of tortures was going forward; he exclaimed," These are not torments which we suffer for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: They are wholesome UNCTIONS." Such was the effect of the Holy Ghost shedding the love of God in Christ abroad in the human heart ! He was ordered to be stoned to death.† first Hermit; All this time the persecution raged in Egypt with unremitting fury. In the lower Thebais there was a young man named Paul, to whom, at fifteen years of age, his parents left a great estate. He was a person of much learning, of a mild temper, and full of the love of God. He had a married sister, with whom he lived. Her husband was base enough to design an information against him, in order to obtain his estate. Paul, having notice of this, retired to the desert mountains, where he waited till the persecution ceased. Habit, at length, Paul, the made solitude agreeable to him. He found a pleasant retreat, and lived there during fourscore and ten years. At the time of his retirement he was twentythree, and he died at the age of a hundred and lived to thirteen. This is the first distinct account of be 113. an hermit in the Christian Church. No doubt ought to be made of the genuine piety of Paul. Those, who, in our days, condemn ALL Monks with indiscriminating contempt, seem to make no allowance for the prodigious change of times and circumstances. Reflect seriously on the sort of society to which Christians were exposed in the reign of Decius: Was there a day,-an hour, in which they could *[Ruinart. acta Mart. sincer. p. 133.] [Hieron. in vitâ Paul. Erem.] + Fleury, b. 6-40. § Fleury, b. 6-48. enjoy its comforts, or secure its benefits? Where could Christian eyes or ears direct their attention, and not meet with objects exceedingly disgusting? If Paul preferred solitude in such a season, we need not be more surprised than we are at the conduct of Elijah the prophet. But, why did he not, with the return of peace, return also to the discharge of social duties? The habit was contracted; and the love of extremes is the infirmity of human nature. Besides, a heart breathing the purest love to God, might naturally enough be led to think the perfection of godliness best attainable in solitude. The increasing spirit of superstition soon produced a number of imitations of Paul and the most lamentable effect was, that those, who possessed only external religion, placed their righteousness and their confidence in monastic austerities;—and thus, from the depraved imitations of well-meant beginnings, one of the strongest supports of false religion gradually strengthened itself in the Christian world. Here we close the account of the Decian persecution. Its author is admired by Pagan writers. What has been said of Trajan and Antoninus is applicable to him. He was a moralist; and he was a cruel persecutor. It cannot be denied, that for thirty months the Prince of darkness had full opportunity to gratify his malice and his fury. But the Lord meant to chasten and to purify his Church,—not to destroy it. The whole scene is memorable on several accounts. It was not a local or intermitting, but a universal and constant persecution: and, therefore, it must have transmitted great numbers to the regions where sin and pain shall be no more. The peace of thirty years had corrupted the whole Christian atmosphere: The lightning of the Decian rage refined and cleared it. No doubt, the effects were salutary to the Church. External Christianity might indeed have still spread, if no such scourge had been used; but the internal spirit of the Gospel would, probably, have been extinguished. The survivors had an opportunity of learning, in the faithfulness of the martyrs, what that spirit is; and men were again taught, that HE alone, who strengthens Christians in their sufferings, can effectually convert the heart to true Christianity. The storm, however, proved fatal to many individuals who apostatized; and Christianity was, in that way, cleared of many false friends. We have also noticed two collateral evils. Both the formation of schisms and of superstitious solitudes had their date from the Decian persecution. CHAP. XII. THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH DURING THE REIGN Gallus suc A. D. 251. THE successor of Decius allowed the Church of Christ a little tranquillity. During that space the two small treatises of Cyprian concerning the Lapsed and concerning Unity, were, doubtless, of some service ceeds De in recovering the lapsed to a state of penitence, cius about and in disposing the minds of men to preserve the unity of the Church. In the former of these treatises, indeed, it must be confessed he carries his censure of the Novatians too far. The sin and the danger of rending the body of Christ might have been stated in the strongest terms, without pronouncing the evil to be absolutely damnable: This was carrying the matter beyond all bounds of moderation. But the same candour which should incline one to apprehend that Novatian was influenced by good intentions, in his too rigid scheme, pleads also for the motives of Cyprian's zeal in the maintenance of unity. He seems to have considered the mischief as most exceedingly destructive and he can find no terms sufficiently strong to express his detestation of it. Gallus con tinues the VIIth per secution. But Gallus soon began to disturb the peace of the Christians, though not with the incessant fury of his predecessor.* A Roman presbyter, named Hyppolitus, had been seduced into Novatianism; but his mind had not been perverted from the faith and love of Jesus. He was now called on to suffer martyrdom, which he did with courage and fidelity. Either curiosity or a desire of instructive information induced some persons to ask him in the last scene of his sufferings, whether he still persisted in the communion of Novatian? He de VOL. I. * [Ruinart. acta sincera. ex Prudentio, p. 145.] 2 A |