they might serve as torches in the night. The Church celebrates on the 24th of June, the memory of all these martyrs, the first fruits which heathen Rome sent up to heaven. Before the end of this persecution suffered the two great pillars of the Church, SS. Peter and Paul, at Rome in the year 67; the first being crucified with his head downwards; the second, being a Roman citizen, was put to death by the sword. In consequence of the severe edict of Nero, many Christians were sacrificed to the fury of the Pagans in the different provinces of the Roman empire.

The second Persecution under Domitian.

The disturbances in the Roman empire under the emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, and the humane disposition of Vespasian and Titus, gave some rest to the Christians, 'till Domitian succceding, began the second general persecution. This emperor, a second Nero in cruelty, instigated by the malice of Satan, published in the year 95 new edicts throughout the empire against the christians, by virtue of which great numbers were made victims of religion. In Rome, among others he put to death Flavius Clemens, his own cousin-gerinan, for being a christian, and banished Clemens's wife Domitilla. SS. Nereus and Achilleus suffered also in this persecution; as likewis. Antipas, mentioned in chap. ii. 13. of the Apocalypse, whom Christ calls there his faithful witness." It was by this tyrant's order that St. John the Apostle was sent for to Rome, and was cast into a caldron of boiling oil, but coming out more vigorous than before, he was banished to the isle of Patmos.

The third Persecution under Trajan.

The Christian religion, by the beginning of the second century, had prodigiously increased, and

spread itself through a great extent in Europe, Asia, and Africa; and all considerable cities were governed by their respective bishops. Trajan, the Roman emperor, according to the Pagan writers, was of a mild temper and possessed of many amiable qualities, which gained him from the senate the title of Optimus,' or good prince.' But this glorious title received a black and indelible stain from the persecutions which he permitted to be carried on against the Christians. For, though he issued out no new edicts against them, he suffered the former sanguinary laws to be executed in different parts of the empire in the years 106, 107, &c. A clear instance of this appears in his answer to Pliny the younger, governor of Pontus and Bithynia, who had writ to know his pleasure, what should be done with the Christians who were very numerous in the provinces of his government. Trajan's answer was, 'Let the Christians not be sought for; but if they be accused and convicted as such, let them be punished.' The chief of those who gained the crown of martyrdom in his reign were, St. Clement, bishop of Rome; St. Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem; St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, whom Trajan himself condemned and sent to Rome, there to be torn to pieces by wild beasts in the amphitheatre.

The fourth Persecution under Marcus Aurelius.

The fourth persecution finds its place in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, in the year 166, &c. Many Christians indeed had been sacrificed under the emperor Adrian, by virtue of former laws remaining in force, but at last he mitigated them by an express order. Marcus Aurelius was extremely superstitious; and as he also boasted of being a philosopher, he was easily instigated by the heathen priests and philosophers against the Christians,

whose principles of religion and philosophy were so contrary to theirs. If Aurelius issued out no new edicts, he permitted at least the governors of provinces to put in execution the laws subsisting. And that the persecution was very violent and bloody, appears from the several apologies presented to him by St. Justin, Melito, Athenagoras, and Apollinaris, intreating him to put a stop to it. The same is also evident from the number of those that were crowned with martyrdom. In Asia, St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was put to death, and many others about the same time. At Rome was beheaded St. Justin, who wrote two apologies for the Christians. Several others shared with him the same crown. At Lyons, St. Pothinus the bishop, and many of all ages and conditions were, through the most acute and cruel torments, conveyed to heaven. At length the emperor put an end to the persecution about the year 174, prevailed upon, as is supposed, by the signal favour he and his army, in the German war, received from heaven by the prayers of the Christian legion. He was shut up in narrow defiles, and surrounded by the Quadi and Marcomanni, and his soldiers were ready to perish with excessive heat and thirst. Under these calamities, the Christian soldiers humbly addressed themselves to God, who immediately sent a plentiful shower of rain, which relieved Aurelius's army, and at the same time a violent storm of hail, with dreadful flashes of lightning, upon the enemies; which gave a complete victory to the emperor.

The fifth Persecution under Severus.

After the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180, the Christians enjoyed a respite of tolerable peace till the reign of Severus, a crafty, treacherous, and bloody prince, and by his nature truly answering

H

his name. He at first treated the Christians with humanity, but was afterwards prevailed upon by their enemies to commence a furious persecution. He not only suffered the governors of the provin ces to persecute the Christians by the laws already standing, but he gave out in the year 202 fresh edicts, which were executed with such rigour and barbarity, that the faithful imagined the time of Antichrist was come. About the beginning of this persecution, Tertullian wrote his apology for the Christians, a masterly work, in which he refutes all the calumnies published against them, shews the divine morality of their doctrine, and exposes the absurdity of the Pagan religion. But it does not appear so pathetic an address had any effect. The fire of this persecution raged through all the provinces of the Roman empire, but far from consuming the Church of Christ, it only served to purify it, and to make it shine with greater lustre. The most illustrious victims immolated on this occasion were, St. Victor, bishop of Rome: Leonidas, Origen's father, beheaded at Alexandria; and several of Origen's scholars. St. Potamiæna, an illustrious virgin, and her mother Marcella, after various torments were burned alive. SS. Felicitas and Perpetua, the one a noble lady in Mauritania, and brought to bed but the day before; the other at that time a nurse; St. Speratus and his companions beheaded at Carthage; St. Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, and many thousands of his people martyred with him.

The sixth Pérsecution under Maximinus.

During the space of twenty-four years, times were peaceable for the Christians, till Maximinus stept into the imperial throne in 235, a man of base origin and barbarous nature. He raised the sixth persecution, chiefly against the bishops and

ministers, and the teachers and principal promo. ters of Christianity. The historian Capitolinus says of him, that, never did a more cruel beast tread on the earth.' St. Pontian, pope, suffered in this persecution, and several others. Happily it did not last above two years, Maximinus being cut off after a short reign.

The seventh Persecution under Decius.

For ten years from the death of Maximinus till the reign of Decius, the Church enjoyed a tolerable tranquillity; and as Maximinus's persecution was chiefly levelled against the pastors, the bulk of Christians had tasted the sweets of peace for thirtyeight years. This period of tranquillity occasioned, conformably to the bent of human nature, a remissness in the Christians, and a relaxation in their morals of which St. Cyprian, who lived at that time, grievously complained. Almighty God therefore, to punish their neglect, to revive their fervour, and to try them in a fiery crucible, permitted a most severe general persecution under Decius, in the year 249. This savage emperor, seeing that Christianity had gained prodigious growth over the whole Roman empire, and that paganism on that account visibly declined, was resolved to support the latter by effectually ruining the former. He therefore issued out a cruel edict against the Christians, and sent it to all the governors of provinces. The Christians were immediately driven from their houses, and stript of their estates; whips and prisons, fires and wild beasts, scalded pitch and melted wax, sharp stakes and burning pincers, were the ordinary instruments used for their torments. Slow tortures were particularly employed, in order to tire out the patience of the sufferers. This persecution crowned at Rome Fabian pope, Abdon and Sennen, and many