Crescens the Cynick Philosopher a Man proud and Ignorant and according to the humour of his Sect ill-natur'd and implacable and as Tatian who was very intimately acquainted with him and his manners describes him given up to all manner of Vice and Wickedness Now it hapned that Justin in publick Disputes had exposed the extream Childishness and Ignorance of this vain-glorious Pedant who to be revenged of him accuses him before the Prefect of the City who after he had in vain taken some pains to perswade him to renounce his Saviour and to Sacrifice to the Gods pronounced this Sentence against him and Six more They who refuse to do Sacrifice to the Gods and to obey the Imperial Edict let them be first Scourged and then Beheaded according to the Laws The Persecution at Lyons began at the Rabble as it is plainly described in the Epistle of that Church to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia In the first place say they they encountred with admirable courage and patience all the outrages and indignities of the promiscuous Rabble as Tumultuous Out-cries Scourgings Draggings Spoiling Stoning and Fettering and whatsoever else the Heady and Savage Multitude are wont to practise against their most hated Enemies And by them were they haled before the Governour 's Tribunal and by him deliver'd back to their fury which they Executed upon them with all the Arts and Circumstances of Fanatick Zeal and Barbarous Cruelty This I say was the usual Method to Sacrifice the Christians to the outrage of the Superstitious Rabble and if at any time any Prince engaged himself in the opposition of Christianity it was because that opposed the Pagan Religion But that was such an exorbitant contradiction to the common sense of Mankind and to all the first Principles of good and evil that it was impossible any Man could be in love with it after any fair and impartial enquiry about it So that what such Men acted against Christianity proceeded not from any rational and sober Counsel but meerly from vulgar custom and prejudice And therefore if M. Aurelius or any other Emperour that ought to have had more wit and temper than the Common People shewed any zeal against the Christian Religion their judgment is as little to be regarded in this case as that of the multitude because it is evident that they were acted meerly by superstitious zeal and folly If indeed they had opposed Christianity originally upon its own account the reasons of it might have deserved some consideration but when the ground of all their displeasure against it was founded upon their love of Paganism the meer absurdity of that cause is too great an exception against their understandings in this Controversie Thus supposing that M. Aurelius himself was as forward as the People in his zeal against Christianity it is evident that he was as wise too For whatever he was beside he was a great Superstitionist and to a degree of stupidity zealous for the Pagan Follies out of that vain affectation that had possest him to be accounted the second Numa of Rome which one conceit transported him to a more than childish zeal for the old Rites and Ceremonies of their Religion And this seems to have been the case of Decius and Dioclesian in setting on foot the eighth and tenth Persecutions to which they were hurried by a vehement and unlearned zeal for the Pagan Religion This in short is the truest account that I can find of all the Persecutions by which it plainly appears that Christianity was not so much opposed by its greatest Enemies for any thing they had to object against it self as because it so shamefully exposed the bruitishness of their Idolatry And yet as absurd as the Worship of the Heathen Gods was the giving Divine Worship to their Emperours was much worse For though their Gods were nothing better than dead Men yet having lived in Ages remote and almost unknown and thereby gain'd the advantageous reverence of Antiquity the common People were not aware of their Original but finding them in the possession of their Divinity they gave them the Worship due to that Title But to give Divine and Religious Worship to the Roman Emperours whose Deaths and whose Vices were so fresh in the memories of Men was such an unmanly piece of flattery as any Man that had any sense of Generosity ought not to submit to but every Man that had any sense of God or Religion ought to defie And yet so infinitely were those Men besotted with Pride and Insolence that they all had their Temples and Priests dedicated to their own Divinity excepting onely Tiberius who being a great dissembler himself chose to refuse so gross a flattery and would not so much as permit his Statue to be placed among the Images of the Gods but onely among the Ornaments of private Houses But as for all the rest they either took to themselves all the Titles and Dignities of Divinity or had them conferr'd on them by their Successours And when they were once advanced among the Gods all Men were required under pain of Death to pay them Divine honour Nay as Tertullian too truly upbraids them they were more religious toward their Emperours than their supreme Deity Majore formidine callidiore timiditate Caesarem observatis quà m ipsum de Olympo Jovem And all this though it were scarce a greater blasphemy against God than an affront to Mankind yet so base and degenerate were the spirits of Men at that time that they refused not to submit to so dishonourable a flattery Onely the Christians out of that serious regard they had to the honour of their Creatour unanimously scorn'd it with open and publick defiance And for their generous freedom herein they were as familiarly proceeded against as for the contempt of their Gods But now if this were another ground of the Heathens acting against the Christians it is so far from being any reasonable pretence that it is one of the greatest shames of humane Nature So that setting aside all that Evidence that is to be produced in behalf of Christianity the opposition made to it upon this or any of the foremention'd accounts cannot reflect the least shadow of disadvantage upon the truth or the goodness of its Cause § XLI These were the real Articles of accusation in their charges against the Christians but they were not so frivolous as their forged and counterfeit pretences were malicious For the Heathen Priests thought it not enough to enflame the rage of the People with fanatick Zeal unless they fed their Malice as all Impostors do with Lies and Calumnies But when Men are once reduced to this low and dirty Artifice in defence of any Cause it is a sign they are drawn down to the very dregs of Malice For it is onely for want of Argument that they are forced to make use of Slander which the natural ingenuity of Mankind would scorn if they could support themselves and their Party without
raised against Christianity but as for that private Opposition that it met with from Philosophers and pretendedly learned Men it was so very contemptible that it scarce deserves consideration For though one would expect to have found all the learned World engaged in a Controversie that concern'd the whole World yet they were very few that concern'd themselves against the Christian Cause and those that did so onely pelted at it with remote and far-fetcht cavils but never came up to the matter of Fact which is the onely pertinent subject in this Enquiry and if that stand firm all other Opposition falls short of the Argument and breaks its own force upon it self by endeavouring to disparage the truth of a thing that it cannot deny or to prove the same thing to be false that it cannot but confess to be true Nay so far were they from putting the matter of Fact to the question that they were all forced to take it for granted Porphyry and Celsus impute our Saviour's Miracles to Magick Hieroles and Trypho say onely that the Christians make too much of them by making a God of a divine Man Julian tells us that he did no such great matters but onely cure the Lame and the Blind So that it seems none of them were at that time hardy enough so much as to think of controuling the reality of our Saviour's Actions for fear of too much disadvantage in the Controversie Now after this it is easie to foretell with what trifling pretences they must satisfie themselves and they were so very trifling that it-will require but very little pains to shew their Vanity All the Opposition then that was made to it this way proceeded meerly either from gross Superstition or avowed Atheism The first is coincident with the former account of the publick Persecutions and was nothing else than a meer fanatick zeal for the old Pagan Idolatry And this was chiefly managed by the Pythagoreans the onely superstitious Sect among all the Philosophers who were all along so zealous of the Grecian Rites that they may properly be styled the Monks and Friers of that Religion This humour they derived from their first Founder Pythagoras himself who having learned that part of natural Philosophy from Thales and Anaximander that explain'd the mechanical contrivances of Matter and Motion to which alone those Philosophers pretended he quickly perceived either by the sagacity of his own Mind or the instruction of Pherecides that there was some intelligent Being in Nature that was the cause of the order and harmony of Things And it was this that so strongly possest him with the notion of a Deity whom he defined to be a Mind diffused through all Nature from whom all things receive their Life and Activity As not being able to understand how the natural effects that are constantly and every where visible in the World could be brought to pass but by the present and immediate assistance of such a power And now having his Mind thus throughly touched with a sense of the Divinity and finding the Orphean Rites and Constitutions at that time the most sacred Solemnities of Religion in the World he grew very zealous of them as the most religious Symbols of Divine Worship Neither was his zeal satisfied with the superstition of his own Country but he travel'd into all parts of the World to inform himself of their several ways of worshipping their Gods And then composed a Service of his own partly out of the Orphean partly out of the AEgyptian partly out of the Chaldean partly out of the Eleusinian and partly to mention no more out of the Samothracian Rites which together with his own theurgick Ceremonies must make up a compleat Rhapsodie of all the Superstition and Idolatry of the Heathen World And though some of his Followers Leucippus Democritus and Epicurus apostatised so far from his Institution as to fall into the rankest and most audacious Atheism yet all that persevered in their Master's Discipline were sure no doubt to be most of all strict in his Religion And it was onely this Sect of Philosophers who were Men rather devout than learned that all along gave authority and reputation to the old Heathen Idolatry And therefore when Christianity began to bear it away it could not be expected but that they should appear the most forward Champions to defend their Fanes and their Temples their Altars and their Oracles against the new and prevailing Religion The first and the ablest Champion was Porphyrie a Man at that time eminent for Wit and Learning but so entirely eaten up with fanatick zeal for his Religion that he had not patience so much as to hear of any thing that opposed it and this set him all on fire against Christianity For being by nature of a fierce and angry temper insomuch as he attempted to cut his own Throat as he describes himself in the Life of Plotinus and withall very much inclined to Austerity and Devotion for he was a very strict observer of the Pythagorean Rules this fixt him in his fanatick and superstitious zeal than which there is nothing more insuperable Though when this happens to be join'd with a natural eagerness of temper it grows into meer fury and outrage and so transports Men out of the use of their natural Understandings And this seems to have been the case of Porphyrie not onely from that description that he gives of himself and that account that his Friends give of his Life but also by that Character that is given of his Writings against the Christians which is described by the most impartial Writers as full of rage and bitterness Though how he performed what he undertook is not so certainly determinable in that not onely his own Book but all those that were written against it are utterly perisht But by those fragments that remain of it in the Writings of the Ancients it does not at all appear that he ever ventur'd to deny the matter of Fact of our Saviour's Miracles but granted them so far as to impute them to the power of Magick But how vain that pretence is we have already shewn at least the whole of the Controversie depends upon the truth of the matters of Fact that are recorded of our Saviour none of which I do not find that he ever undertook to controul and as long as that stands firm all other Opposition is but trifling However he was a Person so infinitely superstitious that his Opinion can be no prejudice against the cause of Christianity because he was at no liberty to make any enquiry into the truth of its pretences And of the same Kidney was Hierocles especially if he were of which there is little doubt the same zealous Person that was first Judge at Nicomedia and afterward Prefect of AEgypt under Dioclesian and a great Agent in his bloody Persecution however he was a zealous Orphean and extreamly addicted to the old Pythagorick Superstition But whatever he was otherwise his work
necessary upon reason of State and that he too well knew in his Court outweighed all other considerations And hence came that constant succession of Murthers in the Empire whereby all of his own Family were in the first place cut off and afterwards all his Kindred So imprudent a thing is it to think of disposing of Crowns against the Right of Inheritance it certainly entails Murthers upon the Royal Family and Civil Wars upon the Kingdom But to return to Nero these are the main Instances of Cruelty wherewith he is usually branded some others there are that I shall here pass by and onely concern my self in that he is charged with against the Christians Against whom it is evident that he proceeded not either from any enquiry into their cause or any voluntary cruelty of his own but deliver'd them up to the Peoples fury onely to deliver himself from it For the City happening to be destroyed by a sudden Fire Nero's Enemies to render him more odious cast reports among the People that he was the Authour of the mischief and the more to exasperate them add that he beheld the sad sight from Mecoenas his Tower with no small joy and pleasure singing the destruction of Troy Whether this report were true or false it matter'd not the People were ready enough to run away with any thing in their rage and anguish and though it was for any thing that appears altogether groundless and malicious it was then believed and is so to this day And therefore Nero to bring himself off transfers the Odium upon the Christians whom he knew to be sufficiently hatefull to the common Rabble as despisers of their Gods and their Religion and by turning them loose to their rage and cruelty diverted or at least somewhat asswaged their fury against himself Neither does this seem to have been Nero's own device but rather to have been first prompted by the People themselves for it is more than likely that the Idol Priests upon occasion of so sad a Calamity should blow the suspicion into the Peoples heads that it came from the Christians who as they hated their Gods hated their Temples too and so would not stick to set the City on fire on purpose to destroy them And such a suggestion as this being once kindled among the Common People it would quickly prevail like the flames themselves and in the extremity of their anguish transport them to the utmost excess of rage and indignation And therefore as the Historian observes they did not think simple punishment enough unless they added scorn to their cruelty and so would not suffer them to be put to death in the shape of men but worried them with Dogs in the skins of Wild Beasts But whether Nero fired the City or not or whether he contrived this device to save himself or onely made advantage of the folly of the People it is certain that neither he nor they proceeded against them upon any mature deliberation but that they were Sacrificed meerly to the outrage of the Rabble And this is the plain account of the Neronian Persecution in which the Prosecutors were so far from entring into the merits of the cause that it was wholly managed by popular Tumult that was raised by Calumny and enraged by Superstition So that the Christians in it suffer'd not as Christians but onely upon occasion of this accident the People fell foul upon them as Enemies to their Idol-Gods And that was natural for the blind and furious Rabble to doe whatever the Christian cause might be for without enquiring into that they were onely zealous for their old Superstition And therefore their Opposition to Christianity can be no objection against it for though we suppose its truth and Evidence yet notwithstanding that it could not have avoided their displeasure And yet in most of the other Persecutions it will appear that they were both set on foot and carried on onely by the folly and fury of the Multitude § XXXVIII The Second Persecution was raised by Domitian the Second to Nero for fierceness and cruelty though neither did he proceed in it upon any account of Religion but purely out of jealousie of State For as he exceeded all other Princes in suspicion and ill-nature so upon the least shadow of pretence he would never stick at any cruelty to secure himself Thus he Murthered Metius Domitianus for no other reason than because he was Born as the Astrologers affirm'd under an Imperial Horoscope And slew his own Unkle Flavius Sabinus because when he was chosen Consul the Clark whose Office it was to declare the choice to the People by mistake pronounced him Emperour instead of Consul And though it was commonly said that he slew his Kinsman Flavius Clemens whose two Sones he had adopted to succeed him in the Empire upon the score of Christianity yet it is much more probable that his displeasure was suddenly taken up upon some pretence of State as Suetonius expresly affirms Repentè ex tenuissimâ suspicione tantum non ipso ejus consulatu interemit And this as we have the Story from Hegesippus was the true Original cause of his troubling the Christians Against whom he did not proceed in general as Christians but onely against some of our Saviour's Kindred who were accused before him as descending from the Royal Line of David out of which the Messias or Universal Monarch was to come of whom Domitian sayes the Historian was not less jealous than Herod himself But upon Examination finding both the Poverty and the Innocence of the Persons he dismist them and by a Publick Edict for bad all farther Prosecution against the Followers of Jesus Thus far Hegesippus and it is one would think a plain and an easie Story and Recorded by a Person that lived very near the time in which it was Transacted and yet our great Scaliger in pursuit of that Scholastick Authority which he has taken to himself of correcting the Ancients but especially Hegesippus is pleased not to pass it for so much as credible and that with so much Confidence and so little Reason as too grosly discovers his affectation of finding fault For first he wonders that there should be no more than two of the Posterity of David left and those of the Family of Judas the Brother of our Lord as Hegesippus affirms Whereas Hegesippus affirms no such thing but onely sayes that two of the Posterity of Judas the Brother of our Lord were accused before Domitian But that they were all that were remaining of the Family of David he does not so much as intimate neither had Scaliger any ground for this surmise unless from thence to seize an Opportunity to give the World an account of his knowledge of the History of the Jews at Babylon where he tells us of many of the Posterity of David in great honour But granting the truth of his Story though all the Stories of the Jews after their dispersion are