in their afflictions, mutilation, and the drudgery of the mines. Peter the monk, having in vain been solicited by the judge to save his life, gave it up cheerfully for the sake of Christ. With him suffered Asclepius bishop of the Marcionites, being burned on the same funeral pile, "animated with zeal, says my author, but not according to knowledge."* This however might be more than Eusebius knew. The heretical form, in which he appeared, might be consistent with the pure love of Christ, nor in a history, which undertakes impartially to celebrate the people of God, does it become us to be blinded by the idea of a rigorous and exclusive uniformity of denomination.

Pamphilus the presbyter and friend of Eusebius is commended by him abundantly for his contempt of secular grandeur, to which he might have aspired, for his great liberality to the poor, for that which may seem more likely to cloud than to adorn his christian excellencies, his philosophic life, and above all, for his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, in which his panegyrist thinks he excelled all men of that time, and for his benevolence to all who came to him. An excellent christian he undoubtedly was, though a moderate degree of evangelical knowledge in that age, would easily be esteemed prodigious. Firmilian asking him when brought before him, what was his country, received for answer, "Jerusalem." Not understanding what he meant by this, he tortured him for an explanation. Pamphilus persisted, that he had spoken truth. "Where is this country of yours ?" "It belongs to those alone, who worship the true God." The judge, at once incensed and perplexed, after various torments, ordered him to be beheaded. Twelve martyrs suffered with him. One of them Porphyrius, a servant of Pamphilus, begging the favour of interment for the deceased, was ordered to be burned; and was heard for the last time, when the flame began to reach him, to call upon Jesus the Son of God as his helper. It is remark

*Chap. x.

able, that Firmilian also himself, after having trodden in the steps of Urbanus in shedding christian blood, like him also suffered capitally by the sentence of the emperor.

Toward the end of the seventh year the persecution relaxing in some degree, the multitude of the confessors in the mines of Palestine enjoyed some liberty, and even erected some places for public worship. The president of the province coming among them envied them the small cessation of their miseries, and wrote to the emperor in their prejudice. Afterwards the master

of the mines coming thither, as if by an imperial rescript, divided the sufferers into classes. Some he ordered to dwell in Cyprus, others in Libanus; the rest he dispersed and harrassed with various drudgeries in different parts of Palestine. Four he singled out for the examination of the military commander, who burnt them to death. Silvanus a bishop of great piety, John an Egyptian, and thirty-seven others, were the same day beheaded by the order of Maximin. Of John it is remarked, that though blind, he had been cauterized and debilitated in one leg by a hot iron as the rest. The strength of his memory was admired among the christians; he could at pleasure repeat from the Old or New Testament many passages in christian assemblies. But the fact proves something more than what Eusebius mentions, namely, that he had made the best use of his eyes, while he was possessed of them.

And here we close the account from Eusebius of the martyrs of Palestine. For eight years the East with little intermission groaned under the most heavy persecution. In the West their sufferings abated after two years. The political changes of the empire account for the difference. But both in the East and the West, Satan was permitted to exert his malice in the keenest manner, in this last of the pagan persecutions. And the divine power and wisdom in still preserving a real church on earth was never more conspicuously displayed, since the days of the apostles. The time of an external triumph of the church, under Constantine, was at hand. Those, who look at outward things alone, may VOL. II.

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be tempted to think, how much more glorious would the church have appeared at that time, without the previous desolations of Dioclesian's persecution. But when it is considered, how much christian doctrine had decayed, and how low holy practice had fallen, the necessity of so sharp a trial to purify the church, and fit her at all for a state of prosperity, is evident. Otherwise the difference between christians and pagans might have been little more than a name.

I know it is common for authors to represent the great declension of christianity to have taken place only after its external establishment under Constantine. But the evidence of history has compelled me to dissent from this view of things. In fact we have seen, that for a whole generation previous to the persecution, few marks of superior piety appeared. Scarce a luminary of godliness existed, and it is not common in any age for a great work of the Spirit of God to be exhibited, but under the conduct of some remarkable saints, pastors, and reformers. This whole period, as well as the whole scene of the persecution is very barren of such characters. Not but that many precious children of God suffered in much patience and charity. But those, who suffered with very much of a different spirit, found no pastor to discountenance their self-will and false zeal; a sure sign, that the true spirit of martyrdom was very low, compared with what had formerly been the case. And the prevalence of superstition on the one hand, and the decay of evangelical knowledge on the other, are equally apparent. Christ crucified, justification purely by faith, and the effectual influences of the Holy Ghost, together with humbling views of man's total apostacy and corruption, these were ideas at least very faintly impressed at that day on christian minds. It is vain to expect christian faith to abound without christian doctrine. Moral,and philosophical, and monastical instructions, will not effect for men what is to be expected from evangelical doctrine. And if the faith of Christ was so much declined, (and its decayed state ought to be dated from about the year 270,}

we need not wonder, that such scenes as Eusebius hints at without any circumstantial details, took place in the christian world. He observes that pastors of churches were condemned to take care of camels, and to feed the emperor's horses. Even he, who was far from seeing in a due light the cause of the declension of piety in their departure from the faith, was struck with the moral effects, and could not but revere the divine justice in giving unworthy ministers a punishment adapted to their crimes. He speaks also of the ambitious spirit of many, in aspiring to the offices of the church, the ill judged and unlawful ordinations, the quarrels among confessors themselves, and the contentions excited by young demagogues in the very relics of the persecuted church, and the multiplied evils which their vices excited among christians. How much declined must the christian world be, which could thus conduct itself under the very rod of divine vengeance? Yet let not the infidel or profane world triumph. It was not christianity, but the departure from it, which brought on these evils; and even in this low state of the church, there was much more moral virtue, than could be found any where else; and the charitable spirit of many in suffering shewed, that God had yet a church upon earth. The reader is however prepared to conceive aright of the state of the church, when Constantine took it under his protection, and to judge how far a national establishment was beneficial or prejudicial to it in future. Of this he could scarcely judge with any propriety, unless well-informed of its previous spiritual condition. But before we enter upon this, some facts, more or less connected with the persecution, the civil state of the empire, so far as it may throw light on the history of the church, and the manner how the persecution closed, will call for our attention,

Of all the martyrologies of this persecution, none are more replete with horror than those which describe the sufferings of Taracus, Probus, and Andronicus, at TarChap. xii Martyr of Pal.

sus in Cilicia. But I suppose by this time, the reader has seen a sufficient specimen of scenes, which admit of no entertainment, no colouring, no embellishment. One of the best lessons to be learnt from them is, that here human nature is discovered in the height of its enmity against God: and any man may see, of what malignity he is capable, if left at large to his own dark designs. I looked over the acts of these martyrdoms, which are rather tedious;* I suppose Mr. Gibbon also did the same, and his remark on what he had read, is this, that there was an asperity of behaviour in the martyrs, which might irritate the magistrates. But are words to be compared to deeds? What if torments so terrible, so unprovoked, inflicted on innocent, worthy citizens, did extort a few passionate complaints and indignant speeches? this was the case I see with Andronicus, and it is all that is blame worthy, which appears on the face of the narrative. Is this to be an apology, or even an extenuation for such barbarous persecutions? Taracus firmly owned the truth. On being asked, whether he did not worship two Gods, because he worshipped Christ, he confessed that "Christ was God, being the son of the living God; he is the hope of christians; he saves us by his sufferings." Probus on being required to sacrifice to Jupiter, says, "What to him who married his sister, that adulterer, that unchaste person, as all the poets testify?" In such testimonies as these, truth was delivered without violation of decorum. It was not so in the whole of these scenes. But enmity knows not what candour means, and lest such bigots to infidelity as Mr. Gibbon, should misconstrue what I have said of the great decline of godliness in the christians of these times, it ought in justice to be owned in their favour, that a persecution, which intended their total destruction, was carried on against a race of men, who were even then with all their faults, the most loyal, peaceable, and worthy citizens in the whole empire.

But providence was raising up a protector for his church. The emperor Constantine lying at the point

* See Fleury, b. ix.