of a church, intend the establishment of a patriarchal seat? Where does Luke, or any other authentic and credible historian of the Acts of the Apostles, if you know of any such, show by satisfactory proofs that Peter was the Patriarch of Antioch? These assertions do not accord with the simplicity of the Apostolic Church. They are quite foreign to the diction of the Holy Spirit. They are at variance, too, with the sacred history. For when a contention respecting ceremonies arose at Antioch, recourse is not had to Peter, to terminate the controversy by interposing his patriarchal authority, which, no doubt, ought to have been done; but the matter is referred to the whole college of Apostles, whose decision is sent to Antioch by chosen men, no mention being made of a patriarch.m Dismissing, therefore, this fictitious eminence of the Church of Antioch derived from its having been the seat of Peter, let it suffice us to know, that God made choice of that Church to give the name of Christians to believers.

IX. This name was no less despicable and odious in the esteem of the heathen, than it was grateful, precious, and glorious, in the eyes of the faithful. To the heathen, Christians appeared men of no consideration. If the apparel of a Christian did not accord with the pomp and fashion of the world, he was everywhere insulted in the streets by the cry, There goes an impostor and a knave!* The name alone was deemed a sufficient crime. "With such wilful blindness," says Tertullian," was it generally hated, that men, when bearing a favourable testimony to a Christian, com

The expression in the Latin is, Impostor et Græcus est. A Grecian was then a term of reproach for an arrant knave. T. + Apol. cap. iii.

m Acts xv.

"bined with it a reprobation of the name. Caius Sejus,

66

66

'I

says one, is a good man, but he is a Christian.' wonder,' says another, that Lucius, who is a man of “intelligence, suddenly turned Christian."" Justin says in like manner, "You sustain the name as evidence

against us :"* and again, "We are hated merely for "Christ's name's sake." This, as Eusebius shows at large, was exactly conformable to our Lord's prediction." Neither incest, nor parricide, nor sorcery, was judged worthy of severer punishment than the mere name of Christianity; by which, as Tacitus alleges, they were convicted of no particular crime, but of hatred against the human race. It was not thought sufficient to employ the usual instruments of torture and death, iron-hooks, plates of burning iron, stakes, engines resembling a horse, crosses, melted metals, wild beasts, examples of burning alive. New forms of punishment were industriously contrived to expiate the crime of this name. It seemed too humane, that Christians should be bound with a girdle of branches, and burnt at a stake formed of a plank or pole split into two parts; and that so frequently, that they were thence branded with the designations of the Branch-people,|| and the people ignominiously bound.65 A severity unknown to the ancients required, that when the light of day failed, they should be burnt for the purpose of giving light by night, being covered all around with torches, paper, and wax, and with a coat bedawbed and interwoven with combustible substances; while a stake was thrust through

Apol. p. 156.

+ Apol. p. 144.

‡ Demonstr. Evan. lib. iii. cap. 5. p. 77. Edit. Steph. An. 1545. ¶ Semaxii.

§ Annal. 15.

Sarmentitii.

" Mat. xxiv. 9.

65 See NOTE LXV.

the middle of their bodies, and made to come forth at the mouth. The mode and circumstances of this punishment, worthy of Nero its inventor, are exactly depicted by Calvisius.* Besides, who can enumerate all the different kinds of torture and of death, of scourges, pulleys, gibbets, wheels, pressures, gridirons, burning pots, racks, and goblets, which Baronius describes ; † and of the engines of torment mentioned by Eusebius.‡ To justify all this outrageous barbarity, crime enough was implied in the innocent name of Christian, without further evidence or trial; of which Justin, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, and others, no less justly than freely complained.

x. Notwithstanding the extreme detestation in which the name of Christians was held, the faithful exulted in it so much, that, rather than renounce it, they were willing to undergo a thousand deaths. In reply to questions put to them, or even of their own accord, they not merely acknowledged, but boasted, that they were Christians; and that at a time when such a profession might seem unseasonable and hazardous. When charged with Christianity, they rejoiced; to be accused of it, was their wish; to be punished, their felicity. When branded with it, they gloried; when arraigned, they made no defence; when condemned, they gave thanks. While tormented with hooks, or suspended on crosses, or encompassed with flames, or beheaded with swords, or exposed to wild beasts, they discovered a resolute mind and a cheerful countenance, and gloried that they were Christians. St Lucian, according to

Ad annum lxiv.

+ Martyrolog. Roman. ‡ Lib. v. cap. 1. Lib. viii. cap. 7. et 9. et 11. Lib. vi. cap. 39. alibique passim.

Chrysostome's account, when asked, "What is thy na"tive country? answered, I am a Christian.-What is thy occupation?-I am a Christian.-Who were “thine ancestors?—In reply to every question, still he "said, I am a Christian."

XI. Nor, indeed, is it surprising, that the followers of Jesus put so high a value on this name of Christian ; for it comprehends almost every relation in which they stand to Christ, the communication of his mystical unction, and the participation of his offices; and it binds its professors to a contempt of the world, and to more than human undertakings. Each of these things must now be considered with some attention.

XII. We have seen above, that nothing is more usual than for scholars to receive their denomination from their Teacher. We have also shown elsewhere,* that, in Eastern countries, the names or distinguishing marks of Masters, were imprinted with red hot iron upon the foreheads of their servants. This practice is more than once alluded to in the book of Revelation. The Angel said, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the "trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in "their foreheads." The Lord Jesus himself says of his people in like manner, "I will write upon him the "name of my God, and the name of the city of my "God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down "out of heaven from my God; and I will write upon "him my new name:" That is, I will show by my conduct, and by conferring a most ample reward, that I recognise him as a faithful servant of my Father, as a citizen of the spiritual Church, and as my property,

• See the Author's Economy of the Covenants, Book iii. chap. 12. sect. 8. T.

• Rev. vii. 3. See also chap. xiii. 16.

P Rev. iii. 12.

and peculiar treasure. Further, for a Wife to be named from her Husband, is not only sanctioned by modern custom, but authorised also by a most ancient and primitive appointment: "She shall be called Wo"man, because she was taken out of Man." Such, in fine, is the union between the head and the members, that they are justly included under one name.

The single name of Christians, therefore, happily expresses the dignity and felicity of believers, as standing in all those relations to Christ. It characterises them as the disciples of Christ, their Teacher; the servants of Christ, their Lord;s the bride of Christ, their Bridegroom; and the spouse of Christ, their Husband." In fine, they are members of that mystical body, of which Christ is the Head; for which reason, the society of believers is called not merely Christian, but also Christ, the members being reckoned with the head: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and "all the members of that one body, being many, are "one body; so also is Christ.""

XIII. Besides, since the name Christian is derived from Christ, and Christ, the Anointed, from anointing, and since this name can, in no respect, be empty and void of meaning; it must necessarily signify, that believers are partakers of the same anointing with Christ. And truly his name is as ointment poured forth;— poured forth, not upon himself merely, without measure, and most abundantly; but so as to flow down to all the members of his spiritual body, to the remotest