so perfectly represented the innocence of Christians by this Apologie or Defence that all the Church had this Book in singular reversace they esteemedit as a pretions Cabinet where the evidences of its faith are kept the proofs of its ancient discipline and marks of the holinesse of its first children It seemes to me that England deserves to have this Peece in its Language that Learned men owe to this Nation so rich a Present for although Translations are not much esteemed in this Age where every one adores his own inventions yet this how meanly soever translated may bee well received because of the dignity of the matter I have undertaken it for those who not knowing the language of the Mistresse of the World cannot know the perfection of so excellent a production of wit if it appear not to their eyes with its graces in the Mother tongue of their native Country This Work might have met with a better Pen then mine but not a faithfuller I aspire not to the glory of writing well but only of being an Interpreter of an Author who in the judgement of the Learned hath no fewer thorns then flowers Tertullians Apologie or Defense of the Christians against the accusations of the Gentiles CHAPTER I. SIRS IF the Authority of Justice bee subject to so intollerable a necessity as you that hold the first places of the Roman Empire who in the dignity of your Magistracy being exposed to the eyes of all the world judge men in the most eminent place of this Capitoll City of the Universe have not the liberty to examine publickly and in the view of the people under your conduct wherein the things consist whereof the Christians are accused and which they propose for the proofe of their innocence If upon this occasion only you feare or are ashamed to labour openly to finde out the truth and to instruct your selves by the order the Lawes have established or if the severity you have exercised against the Christians subject to your domesticke power incensing your mindes with too much sury against our Religion makes you bring from your home a resolution to condemn us and not so much as hear the reasons serving for our defence Be pleased we present you this truth in secret and permit us to discover the same to you in paper seeing wee cannot make you understand it by word of mouth She demands no favour of you because her condition permits her not to hope for a usage easier then that she hath formerly received she knowes her selfe a stranger on earth and doubts not to meet with enemies in a Countrey that 's not her owne as shee derives her originall from Heaven so there makes she her principal residence where shee hath most hope where her best credit is and where her dignity Chines in its greatest lustre That which shee desires of you whilest she remaines heer below is only you would not condemne her unknown The Lawes of the State will lose nothing of their Authority if you Permit her but to defend her selfe their power on the contrary will be seen with more luster if you condemne her after you have heard her but if you judge her without knowing her cause you will not only stand charged with reproach of manifest injustice but be justly suspected your consciences check you with some secret motions that make you refuse to heare the thing you could not condemne if you heard it Wee say then ignorance is the first cause that makes the hatred unjust you have conceived against the name of Christians indeed wee are unholy in your opinion because you are not informed of the holines of our doctrine But take heed what seems to serve you for an excuse be not that which renders your judgement of us faulty For is there any thing more unjust then to hate that you know not although it were otherwise even a thing to bee hated As bad as any thing is it begins not to deserve hatred till it be known to deserve it while you know not what it is how is it possible you should rightly hate it To make the hatred of any thing just it sufficeth not the thing it selfe be evill but that the party who hates the same knows it to be evill in like maner seeing therefore you hate us without knowing wherefore how appears it you hate us not without a cause and consequently most unjustly in regard whereof wee have good reason to reprehend you because you know us not to wit in our condition when you hate us and therefore hate us most unjustly Certainly you pursue us with so much animosity that it well appears you know not in what manner wee live and affect an ignorance that condemnes rather then excuseth you of injustice For we see a great many whose hatred is grounded on the want of knowledge onely who so soone as they cease from being ignorant of our discipline cease at the same time to bear hatred against us It is of these fort of men that Christians are made they embrace our religion after informed in the Piety thereof when hating what they sometimes were they make publick profession of that they hated before the number of these men is so great that it will astonish you when but hear them reckoned up And from thence it comes the people complain highly that the City of Rome is invironed on all sides with the enemies of the worship of the Gods that Christians are spred over all the Empire that the provinces are full of them they be wail it as a signall mischiefe and as a considerable losse because persons of all qualities and ages men of all conditions even those who have attained to great dignities run promiscuously on this side The progresse Christianity hath made cannot make them judge well of us and the examples before their eyes puts not this thought in their mindes that a religion that drawes all the world after it must have something excellent and divine that they know not of The constancy wherewith wee suffer their persecutions is not able to move them to better opinions of us then those they have formerly conceived they will not perticularly be informed of our Doctrine wherin only they care not for being over curious and take as much delight to bee ignorant of this as others to know all things O how would Anacharsis have judged these rather imprudent for giving their judgement upon men wiser then themselves then formerly hee taxed those of folly who themselves being altogether immusicall gave their judgement touching Musicke Seemed it not the policy of the Athenians ridiculous to him when hee saw among them the learned exposed to the judgement of ignorant men Truly the blindenesse of our enemies far surpasseth this in regard they are so hardned in the hatred they beare towards us that because not being oblieged to relinquish it they care not for being made acquainted with our condition much doubting what they are ignorant of is of such
TERTVLLIANS APOLOGY OR DEFENCE OF THE CHRISTIANS AGAINST THE ACCUSATIONS OF THE GENTILES Now made English by H. B. Esq LONDON Printed by Tho. Harper and are to be sold by Thomas Butler at his shop in Lincolns-Inn field near the New-market 1655. To my honoured Father in Law ABRAHAM HAYNES Esq SIR THis Excellent Peece of Tertullian who lived about 1400. years since falling into my hands and perusing it for an Essay translated into English part therof Some of my friends who gave me a visit read this beginning and liking it although they have the same in Latine importuned me to finish what begun Esteeming it might bring some profit to the Christian Religion because therin Tertullian hath made such a solid confutation of the errors of Paganisme and so perfectly represented the innocence of Christians against the false accusations of the Gentiles that in truth Religion could not be better defended nor better perswaded then it is in this Divine Peece That which makes mee appropriate it to you for my particular you are he to whom I professe my selfe SIR Your humble and affectionate Son in Law HENRY BROWN TO HIS HONOURED Friend Henry Brown Esquire Translator of the ensuing Discourse into the English tongue SIR IT s very commendable when Gentlemen to avoid the irksome sin of Idlenes apply their minds unto studies beneficiall to themselves and others in making Exoâ—ick tongues hold forth the truth of things in our Native Language This it cannot be gainsayd in your late translation of this rare Peece into English you have done It was written at first by Tertullian the Author thereof in Latine Into how many severall tongues it hath been translated since I cannot say this I can its worthy for the excellency thereof to bee translated into all tongues the Contents being convincing Arguments for the proof of One God against the Heathen Romans who were then Worshippers of Many It were heartily to be wished we of this Nation could all of us bee as unanimous in the Profession of One true Religion as the Author of this Treatise earnestly laboured to make those unto whom hee wrot in the Confession of One true God This however at present wee may sooner wish then hope for in these suffering and distracting times you have seasonably done Chirst being the Center from whence all lines of truth tend to the Vniversality of Religion as to their Circumference in laying to your helping hand for supporting the sinking pillars of Christianity by translating out of a forraign tongue what the Primitive Christians did and suffered for the Name of Christ It s high time to put pen to paper and publish in our Mother tongue An Apologie or Defence for Christians when men and women nowadays who would bee thought true children of our Mother the Church secretly blaspheme and openly call in question the Godhead of Christ But as I and my Father am one saith our Saviour in the Gospel and therby declares himselfe consequently to be true God so this Apologie sufficiently sets forth the truth of our Christian Faith Which that it so doth in the English tongue we are all beholding to you for your pains alone in this translation The happy success wherof together with a further blessing upon it and your selfe from the Author of what ever blessings God blessed for evermore is heartily prayed for by him who is Sir Yours much devoted to serve you THOMAS WESTLEY THE PREFACE THis Apologie or Defence is the Work of an excellent Orator displaying all the forces of his wit to uphold a most deplored cause in the opinion of the Gentiles and yet the justest that ever was exposed to the judgement of men It s Reader will easily comprehend the merit of this peece so soon as know Tertullian the Author therof and its subject the defense of truth 'T was treated as criminall with them who shut their eyes to the lights therein and would not thereby bee informed Error seemed venerable to them for its antiquity they preferred the darknesse which blinded them for so many Ages before the most excellent Sun-shine of divine light although the accused made mention of in this Treatise were without spots yet their accusers endeavoured to find some and obscured their lustre whom they falsly accused with such impurity that it was necessary men illuminated with the beams of divine splendor should employ the graces they received from heaven to dissipate the darknesse of error and discover to the world a truth which till then they were utterly ignorant of Tertullian was one of those God made use of to lay open or unfold so glorious a ministry and certainly it was a labour worthy of him Hee had enriched his mind with all the choice ornaments of humane Learning was ignorant of nothing that was taught by any kind of Philosophers compleat he was in the knowledge of the Civill Lawes had read the histories of all Ages made to himselfe a treasure of what every science had most precious in it knew all the mysteries of idolatry and was fully informed of the beginning and progresse of Superstition having an understanding which made him capable of very great things His Discourse was so powerfull that one could not heare him without being perswaded by him every of his Arguments rendring him victorious at least over some of his Auditors Hee was equally subtill and solid in his reasonings he had united to those his sublime qualifications a perfect understanding of the holy Scriptures great piety and a marvellous zeale in the Religion of the true God It appertained to a man such as hee was to defend the Christians aginst the calumntes of the Goutiles to overthrow the Altars of the false Gods which Philosophy as he saith himselfe had set up to justifie the worship given by us to the Creator of the Vniversal Hee was an Affrican drawing his originall from a Noble Family of the City of Carthage his Father was an Heathen and commanded a Company of Souldiers under the charge of the Governour of the Province As himselfe tooke birth from an idolatrous house so brought up hee was in Error but God giving him an inquisitive soule he contented not himselfe with the knowledge of this world only but also soared and even penetrated into heaven to get knowledge of divine truth This saving well spring carefully laid up in the bosome of the Church was the water of life hee chiefly thirsted after which having once tasted of he happily plunged himselfe therein and took aful draught of the graces of God swallowed up at the same time this precious liquor Since when he ever after abhorred the fond blindnesse of foolish men who attribute to miserable creatures the glory due to God Charity the most excellent of Christian vertues so lively inflamed his heart that it made him undertake to instruct Infidels to communicate his lights unto them to confirme them therein by the Authority of holy Scriptures and by the strength of reason to ranke
themselves with him in the faith of Iesus Christ Heerupon it was he so powerfully resisted the vanity of Philosophy which he formerly so delighted in and knew to be the principall ground of Superstition So that the same things hee heertofore studied to adorn his mind withall and bring it to the knowledge of false Gods whilest hee lived under the servitude of Idolatry by an admirable working of divine providence served him since his conversion as strong instruments to destroy the worship of Idols Now it is very reasonable that hee who so earnestly desired the salvation of his enemies should have a particular care of his brethren groaning under the weight of persecutions which Pagans made them suffer As therefore he piously laboured to open the eyes of the Gentiles and make them worship his Master so he happily imployed himself likewise to represent to him the holinesse of those who most unjustly were charged with such strange crimes Two principall things hee equally endeavoured to set forth namely the falsenesse of the Gods of the Gentiles and the truth of one only God and joyning together the defence of doctrine and manners proved by one same work the faith and innocence of Christians Hee came into the Church neer the end of the second Age about the time when Severus came to the Empire The faithfull then enjoyed a profound peace after a furious war The Hmp rour Marcus Aurelius a wise Prince for the world but too much addicted to the opinions of Philosophers suffered the fourth Persecution to bee kindled which being stirred up in the year of our Lord 164. by the fury of the people and injustice of the Magistrates who governed the Provinces swept away an infinite number of the servants of GOD Neverthelesse although some rest they had in the year of our salvation 176. by the authority of that Prince his forbidding upon pain of death to accuse the Christians for their Religion by aâ—ust acknowledgement of the service hee had of their affection When by the prayers of Christian souldiers which were in his troops heaven poured down a favourable showr that refresht in extream necessity the Army bee commanded in Germany Yet this calm lasted not long the quiet of this unconstant sea brought in with it an horrible tempest especially on this side the Alps where the City of Vienna and Lions saw the Rhosâ— dyed with the first bloud the members of Iesus Christ spilt in Gaule The people that durst not directly resist the will of the Emperour transported with extreame rage against so many good people began againe to trouble their rest in the year 179 on othre pretences than that of Religion They accused them of supposed crimes the borror whereof made their names odious and by this detestable subtiloy dragd them unjustly before the Courts of Iustice whereby they cluded the punishment established by the Emperour against those who accused the Christians and boldly glutted their cruelty on these innocents whom they exposed to all kind of tortures and in the end in humanely put them to death for confessing the name of God only This Persecution ended with the life of Marcus Aurelius The faithfull after so many suffering had rest under the Emperour Commodus who transported with a bloudy outrage against all Orders of his State by a secret judgement of God spared none but Christians And certainly it was by a visible miracle that this Prince an enemy of all honesty was not also an enemy of those in like maner that made profession of godlinesse that this Prince who shed with so much tyranny the bloud of his people should close the wounds by which came out that of the Christians and that these Idolaters who before had no spectacle so agreeable to their madnesse as the punishments of the Faithfull should cease to afflict them in a time when heir hands were so accustomed to slaughter Wee must acknowledge God who inspires such motions as please him in the hearts of men the author of this so strange wonder Hee procured this peace to the Church to the end hee might fortifie it against the assaults it was to endure soon after It s certaine during this tranquility it was much increased the Gentiles moved to see such excellency in the Christians the innocent carriage of their lives could not consider therof without astonishment They admired the purity they saw shine in their actions From thence sprang desire in them of discovering the cause of such perfection and employed were they in the search of its originall which is truth And after they had broken downe the vail which hindred them from knowing the same they embraced it with as much affection as ever they strove against it So not only the people but those also whose birth and merit raysed them to great dignities followed the Crosse of Jesus Christ They renounced their Idols to consecraete themselves to the service of the true God and abandoned the Temples of the false Gods that they might serve no other but that one God that created them By this means Towns wrer peopled with Christians Armies made up of them and the Senate of Rome from whence flowed the Governours of all the World filled with them every day These are the fruits which peace had produced which the Church injoied since the Empire of Commodus Severus having found the Empire in this happy condition left it not so The Sovereigne power fell in his hands in the yeare of our Lord 195. At the beginning hee shewed no sign of any aversion against the Christians but contrarily made great esteem of them witnessed their probity and openly opposed the violence of the people when hee saw them most incensed to the Christians destruction He had still before his eyes the benefit wherwith he was obliged to a Christian named Proculus Torpacion who heertofore restored him to his health and by the remembrance of such a recovery was so dear to him that he alwayes kept this man neer him so long as he lived he durst not use violence to the Religion of him to whom he owed his life so long as he was in the world and his presence ready to reproove him of such ingratitude The death of this Christian time and the revolution of affairs changed his mind unhappily to indignation Hee had two Competitors in the Empire Piscenius Niger who held Syria and declared himselfe Emperour in the City of Antioch and Claudius Albinius who was Master of Gaule and Britain Severus accommodated himselfe to this man and associated him with himselfe in the Empire to defeat the other and after overcomming Niger who died of akurt hee received in fighting turned his thoughts unto procuring the ruin of Albinius whom he had honored for no other purpose then to destroy him Albinius being dead he came back from Gaule victorious and entring Rome he was there received with publick acclamations rejoycings and such solemnities as Superstition had brought in and which thwarted the holinesse of the
as it hath done they abhorred your Idolatry and on the contrary you have sacrificed oblations to their god you have presented gifts to his Temple you have lived in alliance with them along time and they had never fallen under your power if they had not offended their God by the unworthy treating they used to Jesus Christ CHAP. XXVII MEE thinks we have purged our selves very well of the crime of high treason when we say we offend not your deities because wee shew they are no deities Therefore when wee are exhorted to present them sacrifices wee oppose for our defence the trust wee put or owe to the light God hath given us wee call our consciences to our aide which shews us certainly to whom the worship you render to these images should be adressed which are exposed to a sacrilegious adoration and to the names of men you have consecrated but some say there is folly in our resistance wee may sacrifice when prest to it and conserve our lives without injuring our consciences in keeping a secret resolution to remaine firme in our Religion and that in neglecting our security wee prefer a vaine selfe-will before our welfare So you give us an advise that teacheth us how to deceave you but we know the author of this counsell and who inspires it into you wee know the crafts of that wicked one who sometimes by the wiles of his perswasions sometimes by the force of torments makes us suffer strives to overthrow our constancy It is that malicious spirit whose substance is that of Angels and Divels who by his sin finally falling from grace becomes our enemy and envies at that state of happinesse wherein by Gods gracious assistance we yet remaine and who puts projects in your minds to assault us who secretly excites these furious motions that corrupts all functions of reason in you and dispose you to do us the injustice we spoke of in the beginning of this discourse of condemning us against the rules of justice and in tormenting us altough guilty of no fault for although all power of Devils and this wicked spirit is subject to us yet is falls out sometimes that like unto wicked and faithlesse slaves in the midst of the feare they have of the authority God hath given us over them they give themselves over to actions of disobedience and revolt and as te ordinary effect of feare is to produce hatred they strive to wrong them whose power they feare Besides in the estate of rage and despaire to which they are reduced because their condemnation is already pronounced they find content in their wickednesse they solace themselves in their evils by those they make against the servants of God against the day of the last judgement when they shall bee shut up in hell to suffer there eternally Neverthelesse they combate not with us after this sort but at a distance for when wee come neare them they must yield being under out power and are forced to acknowledge the misery of their condition so the Devills that assault us when far from us have recourse to entreaties when we affront them neare hand Therefore when we must undergoe such punishmets as you ordain for your wretched slaves when they shut us up in prisos whe tey cause us to be condemned to work in the mines or to som other servile work of the same condition in the end when they exercise all their rage against us by te impetuous motions of fury that transports them because they see they are subjected to our authority knowing their forces are inferior to ours and therfore our victory is assured and their destruction is inevitable then we defend our selves against these troublesom importunate spirits as if they were our equalls wee resist them by a holy perseverance in the faith which they strive to destroy and the most glorious triumph wee can gain over them is when our constancy and firme resolution in the Religion of the true God condemns us to death CHAP. XXVIII BUT seeing Religion cannot bee forced and the service of God is a pure act of the will it seemes it were injustice to force free men to offer them sacrifices and would be ridiculous to obliege them to honour the gods in despite of them seeing they ought to be carried by their owne motion and interest to seeke their favour if they be true gods wee should not snatch away the advantage that gives them the liberty of their nature It should be permitted them to say I will not have Jupiter favourable to mee who are you that will force my will I feare not Janus I laugh at his anger of which side soever of his two faces he looks upon me what power have you to meddle with what concerns me but the same spirit that inspires you to presse us to sacrifice to the gods excites you to ordain us to sacrifice for the health of the Emperours by this meanes the interest of Caesar being mingled with that of the gods you cannot avoyd the necessity of constrayning us and we cannot hinder our lives form being in perill if wee will be faithfull to God So wee are come to the second head of high treason but against a majesty more august then that of the gods for you render your duties to the Emporour with more feare and an apprehension more industrious then to your Iupiter you place in Heaven and I find you doe wisely if you knew the true condition of this King of gods for tell me whatsoever he be of the living is he not to be preserd before the dead but that which you doe is not so much because reason obliegeth you to it as for the consideration of the power present with you and which before your eyes exerciseth a soveraigne authority on the earth therefore you shew your selves impious towards your gods in being more afraid of the Princes of the world then of those gods you prosesse to worship Finally there is lesse danger with you to cal all the gods together to be witnesses of a false oath then to sweare falsely by the genius of Caesar onely CHAP. XXIX BEfore then you can force us to sacrifice to the gods it must appeare they can preserve the lives of the Emperours and the rest of men when you can shew us they have this power wee are willing to be declared criminalls if we addresse not our prayers to them for the welfare of our Princes If the gods you serve who are no other then the miserable spirits of evill Angels and Devills worke any good if they that destroy themselves preserve others if the condemned deliver those that exclaime against them and lastly if the dead as you know in your consciences your gods are protect the living Why defend they not rather their statues images and temples who in my opinion owe their conservation to the souldiers that guard them But tell me if the matter wherof these statues are formed be not taken out of the
into as they were oblieged without doubt they had knowne him and in knowing honoured him and after that had sooner resented his favours then his wrath Let them not then trouble themselves about the cause of these evills but know they are the effects of the fury of this same God who in all ages hath given them proofes of his indignation before they heard speake of the name of Christians Man this wicked race that inioyed at case all the goods God created for him before all false gods adored by him were forged will hee not comprehend that these evils came from the hand of him to whom he hath not rendred homage for his goods In sum his ingratitude is his crime hee hath offended the majesty of God in failing to make due acknowledgement of him Yet if make comparison of the calamities of the time past with this time wee shall finde since the very moment God sent the first Christians on the earth publicke evills have beene more tollerable then before they were It s very easy to discover the reason of it the innocence whereof they make profession hath diminished the iniquities of the world and begun to turne away with their prayers the just vengeance of God But see heere a manifest proofe of your blindnesse During the great draught of summer when an excessive heat stayed the raine and hindred that it fell not on the earth in the time when every one desired water that the fruits of the earth might come to maturity you lose not the use of your pleasures and deboistnesse and among the pastimes you take in your bathes your tavernes and your unchast houses you demand of Jupiter by divers kind of sacrifices and by the use of many superstitions the help whereof you have need you ordain publicke prayers where the people being baresooted invoke the affistance of the Gods you seeke in the Capitole that which you cannot find but in heaven you stay till the seelings of your temples be changed into clouds to give you raine and thinke to obtaine that you desire without addressing your selfe to God and turning your selfe towards heaven where hee powres downe his graces upon men Our proceedings are much different from yours in these publick necessities we mortisie our selves by fastings wee practise continency with all the severity wee can wee abstaine for a time from all corporall nourishment we take sackcloth and ashes as markes of our affliction and in this condition wee strike at heaven with our cries wee constraine him to have pitty on us wee make him ashamed of our misery and when wee have overcome the anger of God and puld downe his mercy you honour your Jupiter and thanke him for a benefit comes not from him CHAP. XLI CErtainly that which you say unjustly of Christians Christians may with good reason say of you that you do nothing but hurt the society of men and by your crimes every day draw publicke evills upon them for the evill of punishment is the effect of the neglect you have of God and the worship you render to statues in a word it s more credible that God neglected by mankind should bee sooner irritated against you then those that receive his services otherwise the Gods you honour would be very unjust if in punishing Christians they make no difficulty to punish them also that adore them They should seperate their servants from the condition of Christians their enemies You likewise oppose to us that this argument resists the justice of our God because hee suffers that they who serve him feele the publicke evils even as the prophane that do not acknowledge him But observe the order our God hath established and when comprehended it you will forbeare this objection Hee that hath ordained at the end of all ages the judgement of men and to distribute to alrecompenses or everlasting punishments puts no difference betweene them before the consummation of time doth not before hand make a seperation of the good and evill but reservesit for his last judgement in the meane time hee equally treats all mankind whether hee shewes them mercy or reproves them in his anger Hee will have both good and bad things common to his servants and the prophane that wee may in the society of the world without any distinction bee all tryed by his clemency and severity as for us as wee have learnt all these things of him we love his clemency and feare his severity contrarily you neglect both the one and the other and from thence it comes that all the miseries the world receives from the hand of God are to us voyces from heaven that admonish and exhort us to do well and to you they are chastisements of your crimes In the midst of these calamities wee feele no displcasure for nothing tyes us to the world and wee have no interest but to bee gon ere long besides wee know they are the disorders of your lives that procure these evills wherewith the world is afflicted and if there falls any part upon us because we are mingled with you wee take occasion to rejoyce because it puts before our eyes the truth of the holy scriptures that confirme in us the confidence wee have in the promises made to us that fortisies our faith and assures our hope If it be true they are the Gods you honour afflict you so cruelly because of us how is it possible you continue still to worship so ungratefull and unjust gods seeing contrarily to injure the Christians they should rather assist and defend you CHAP. XLII BUt after all these crimes they object against us and say wee are not any way prositable in commerce of the world I know not how that can be sayd of us seeing wee live with you wee use the same meates and the same habits as you we have beene brought up the one as the other and the necessities of life are common betweene us For wee are not like the Brachmanes or the Gymnosophists of India wee retire not into the woods wee banish not our selves from all things necessary for life wee continually remember we have great obligations to our God our Lord our Creator we reject not any good thing his goodnesse hath produced for our use we containe our selves in a just moderation that wee may not take with excesse or without having need we remaine with you in the world but not seperate from the ordinary commerce wee are not without your publicke places your markets your baths your shops your Inns your Faires Wee saile beare armes cultivate the ground and trafficke with you so that wee mingle our functions with yours and make open profession of working for your service I cannot comprehend how you can imagine wee are not profitable to you and that we contribute nothing to the offices of society seeing it is with it and by it wee live But if I do not assist at your ceremonies if I celebrate not your feasts yet I am a man as well
Fable of the asse under the figure whereof Idolaters say we worship Jesus Christ 68 69 Fame the onely cause wherefore christians hated by the Romans 33 Feasts of the Romans why cald hundreds 27 Fire hid and fire visible the difference 172 Fidelity consists not in exterior duties 130 Fruit it s equally evill to destroy it in the wombe as after when brought forth in the world 42 G GAules offred men on the altars of Mercury 40 Gaules beseige the Capitol 145 Glory the end of many philosophers 159 God needs not the creatures 52 what God is 72 prooses that he is 73 Gods of the Idolaters no gods because men formerly as well as idolaters themselves 48 Gods of infidels none of them lived without vice 55 all good actions attributed to them fabulous 57 Gods of Idolaters broken melted pawned changed and sold by Idolaters 60 61 Gods unknown to the Romans 103 Gods of the Romans beare witnesse in favour of the christian Religion 90 Gods of pagans conjured at the name of Jesus Christ acknowledge his Divinity and dare not belie him 100 Gods of Pagans many of them felt Caesars anger 117 from whom they hold their welfare ibid. Gods of heathen as well as their idolaters implore the charity of christians 151 152 the son of Gods comming 86 Greeks from whom they learnt their superstition 92 H HAnnibals victory over the Romans at Cannes 144 145 Hatred the causes and pretences examined 2 Hatred of what we know not what more unreasonable 3 Hell approved of by Idolaters 54 Hermias 161 Herodotus 42 Hierapolis Island 143 Higronymus a phaenician King 78 Hippias wherefore kild 161 Hippone a goddesse of creatures adored together with beasts 69 I IAnus or Ianes 49 Innachus 78 Iealous men sooner left their wives for being Christians then for any other crime 16 Idolaters possessed by Divels 134 Idolaters their manner of interceding to their gods 146 147 Idolaters Gods ungratefull to them 148 149 Jesus Christ King of the faithfull 17. call'd a Magician by the Jews 87. The miracles he did ibid. Signes of his Divinity when a dying 88. He expired about mid-day ibid. His resurrection 89. He taught his Disciples ibid. His ascension 90. why he came into the world 92 Impertinent tales of Idolaters and their evill speaking of their gods 62 63 64 Ignorance the first cause that rendred the Romans hatred against Christians unjust 2 3 Impostures against Christians 30 Incarnation of the son of God 85 86 foretold to the Jewes by the Prophets ibid Inductions to prove one God powerfuller then all other 51 54 Ingratitude of men causeth the anger of God against them 146 Innocence that 's true necessary for christians 153 154 Josephus author of the Jewes antiquity 78 Ironies of the Author against the Gods and Goddesses of the Romans 107 108 109 Islands of great extent swallowed up 143 Judgement universall to what end 169. what shall happen after it 171 Jewes so attered over all the world 83 Jewes were the only people beloved of God 82. their punishment 83. foretold by the Prophets ibid. Juba King 78 Jupiter lesse feared by the Romans then Caesar 115 116 Jupiter much resembles Jesus Christ an irony 41 Justice according to its rules not to use different proceedings in punishing the same criminalls that have fayled 8 10 L LAberius the Pythagorean what he thought of man 167 Larentine an unchast woman adored 62 Lares houshold gods 60 Laws what they command 11 12 Laws of Insidels condemned of error by the Author 20 Papy Lawes what they compeld unto 21 Julian Laws 21 Laws not to be esteemed but for their justice 22 Laws divine what they promise to them that observe them 74 75 Laws and Books of Christians not hid 175 Lentulus his ridiculous conceits 65 Lucania known now by the name of Sicily 144 Lucullus the first that planted cherry-trees in Italy which he brought from Pontus 53 Lycurgus his Lawes sweetned by the Lacedemonians 20 The displeasure he took at it ibid. Lycurgus wherefore he dyed by famine 161 M MAcedonians mock'd at the complaints of Oedipus and against his incest 45 46 Magicians in their inchantments bear witness of Angels and Divels 93 Manethon an Egyptian 78 Manner of the Christian Religion 137 The Manner of swearing treaties of certaine Nations 42 43 The cruell Manner of sacrificing children to Saturne in Affrica 57 58. Marcus Aurelius proâ—ector of the christians 25 Marcus AEmilius his Idel named the god Alburnus 23 Mecenius absolved for killing his wife who drunk Wine 28 Megarians how they make Feasts 140 Melampus 91 Menedemus a Pagan Philosopher admires the holy Scripture 76 Menander an Ephesian 78 The Mâ—ssiah ordained to change the Lawes of the Jewes and accomplish the Prophesies 83. How conceived ibid. His Mother a Virgin 84. Hee is called the Word by the Ancients ibid. Miracles done by the Christian Souldiers 25 Mysteries alwayes to be kept secret 32 Moslesty of Christians odious to the Insidels 15 Moses his age 78. Moses sent of God to learn the Jews how to serve him 19 Musaeus 19. Mutunus 106. Moores and Marcomanes 133 N NEro the first Emperour that persecuted the Christian Religion 24 Niger 123 Norâ—ia 105 Numa Pompilius the Religion he instituted 91 92 Nursia 105 O OEnotrian 49 Onochoetes what it is 71 Opinions not to be condemned for their Authors name 17 Order of judgement compels not to deny 13 the Order God hath established over us 148 Orpheus 91 P PAralell of the Christians laws to those of Idolaters 155 Pallas Athenian 69 Parthenius 129 Parthians 133 Pagan Philosophers notwithstanding their evill life conserve the name of Sages 158 Roman People spoke evill of their Caesars 128 made them be assassinated 128 129 loved change ibid Philadelphus the learnedst of the Ptolemies put the holy Scriptures in his library 76 Persians mingle themselves incestuously with their owne mothers 45 phryne 62 philosophy why banished from Sparta and Argos 163 philosophers opinions of Divinily 164 Pisistratus 76 Plato acknowledged the nature of the angels 93 Platoes opinion of the deluge 144 Plato for his gluttony engageth his liberty 161 pliny the second advertiseth Trajan that severity diminisheth not the number of Christians and what hee saith of them 8 Poets and Philosophers opinions of Paradise and Hell 166 Poets have drawne their best doctrine from the Prophets 163 Polycrates that was so happy 56 Pontius Pilat Governor of Judea for the Romans 87 Pontius Pilat wrot to the Emperour the miracles that hapned at the death of Jesus Christ 90 why Christians Pray with hands stretcht out and heads bare 119 Prayer how it ought to be conceaved 120 Preachers have beene named Prophets 75 Priests idolatrous vicious 120 Prooses infallible of the true Religion 98 Proceedings strange against Christians 9 10 The Progress of the Christian Religion 133 134 Precepts confirme ecclesiasticall discipline 136 137 Prophets have foretold all that 's come to passe in our dayes 78 the which is a true marke of