of hearing the Christians denounced, yet, when he saw them unmoved by death, and by every other ordinary terror, he felt that it was impossible such persons could be leading a life of voluptuousness and sin, as they were said to be.1

The effect of these spectacles would be the greater, owing to the seasons at which they were usually exhibited; the execution of the Christians taking place, in general, at the celebration of the games and public shows, when multitudes of people were gathered together from all quarters. So was it with Polycarp, at Smyrna; the whole province was a witness of the stout heart and faith unshaken with which this venerable victim met his end; insomuch, that "his fame was spread abroad," we are told, "amongst all the Gentiles."2 So was it with Ignatius: he was conveyed from Antioch to Rome, to suffer in the capital of the empire, and in its amphitheatre; the escort of soldiers who attended him, eager to arrive at the place of execution before the games should be concluded. It is notorious, that these meetings, whether in Italy or Greece, were centres from which information on all subjects radiated; and we may be sure, that the rising society of the Christians, which was brought into view so prominently and under circumstances so much to its advantage, would be made a topic of discussion, and many a report of them be put in circulation, which would pave the way for the preacher when his turn should come.

'Justin Mart. Apol. § 12.

2 Martyr. Polycarp, § 12. 19.

3

Martyr. Ignat. § 5.

126

CHAPTER VI.

A favourable Report of the Christians circulated chiefly by reason of their virtuous and blameless Lives. Great Beauty of the Precepts in St. Paul's Epistles.-Picture of the Primitive Christian.-Absence of Interference with the World.-The Christian Parent and Master.-Christian Benevolence and Fortitude.

THE medium, however, through which the report of the Christians was the most favourably, and therefore the most effectually circulated, was probably their blameless and virtuous lives.

"How far that little candle casts its beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty world."

Miracles, doubtless, must have had their natural effect in recommending the cause they supported, but mankind were not at that time altogether in a condition to be convinced by the argument of miracles. There were circumstances then abroad, to which I shall hereafter have occasion to advert, a prevailing belief in magic more especially, which, in some degree, neutralised the influence of miracles as evidence of truth. Prophecies literally fulfilled must have had their effect too, not less than the other. But neither could the argument of prophecy produce its proper impression, without an examination of the writings of the Prophets, for which people in general, at least the heathen, were incompetent; and those who were competent were little disposed. But virtue, especially virtue contemplated in action, and exemplified in life, recommends itself to the most savage, or the basest

nature, by a law of our being; and introduces the system, be it what it may, to which it cleaves and which it is seen to accompany, with a silent but most persuasive eloquence. It was the character for piety of the man who is described by the heathen poet as presenting himself to the infuriated multitude as a peace-maker, which awed them into silence, and disposed them to listen to his words. And the manner in which St. Barnabas is, on one occasion, mentioned in the Acts, and the effects there ascribed to his ministry, may be thought to be significant: "He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord."1

So mistaken are those who approach the unbeliever in the hope to work his conversion by addressing his understanding only; who consider that the reason only is the faculty of man to which the evidence of the Gospel makes its appeal.

It is not the force of the miracles of which we read in the Gospel, stupendous as they are; nor yet of the predictions which we there find accomplished to the minutest nicety, that produces even now, perhaps, the strongest conviction of the truths they vouch for; but it is the wholesome morality which breathes in every page of it; the manner of spirit it is of; the simple, touching, unaffected terms in which it teaches purity, charity, patience, meekness, temperance; insomuch, that having followed the Apostle Paul, for instance, through the argumentative portion of one of his Epistles, that to the Romans, perhaps, or that to the Ephesians, and having felt and admired the power of his reasoning, we find our conviction of his divine commission growing stronger and stronger as we encounter the cluster of just and righteous precepts with which he usually winds up; and as he pro1 Acts xi. 24.

ceeds without order or arrangement to exclaim, "Let love be without dissimulation; abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good; be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality;" with a profusion of other maxims equally calculated to secure the happiness and peace of all who listen to them, we instinctively say, that "God is in him of a truth. What further need have we of witness?"

This then was the principle which pleaded the cause of the early Christians so successfully-the quiet influence of character and example. "God hath enjoined us," says Justin, "to withdraw men from shameful and disgraceful passions, by our own meekness. And we can show the effects of this in many instances. Those who were once tyrannical and violent changed in their temper, either by imitating the forbearance manifested in their neighbours, or by observing the unusual patience of their fellow-travellers, when defrauded by the way, or by experiencing the good faith of those with whom they had business to transact." Accordingly, we find Origen telling us that the atrocious calumnies laid to their charge at the first, and then believed by the heathen, had, in his own time, begun to fail in their effect. The Christians, it is true, were still subject to persecution, but they had, at least, already lived down the malicious reports that had been circulated against them.2 How could it be otherwise? Let us endeavour to call up before us the picture of the primitive Christian; let us collect some of the features of that character, as we gather them out of the writings of pri1 Justin Mart. Apol. § 16. Origen, Contra Cels. vi. § 27.

40.

2

mitive authors; and consider whether mankind, constituted as they are, could persist in hating it—could find in their hearts not to give it, at least, a fair trial. We have, indeed, in part, forestalled this subject in the last chapter, when speaking of the peculiarities of the Christian, which could not fail to attract attention, for many of those peculiarities could not fail to beget esteem also.

Christians, then, having taken upon themselves certain vows at their baptism, that they would renounce the devil, his pomp, and his angels, were perpetually reminding themselves and each other of the responsibility they had thus incurred.' The memento sounded in their ears like the "Remember" of King Charles addressed to the good Bishop on the scaffold, and awoke in them, as the latter did in him, a multitude of thoughts and motives of which the world was not aware. This recall of the Christian to the promises made by him at baptism, as a restraint upon his conduct at all critical moments, is quite a feature in the writings of the early Fathers. Indeed, it is this circumstance which has, in a great measure, preserved to us the forms of Baptism, as administered in the Primitive Church, and enabled us to trace distinctly the language of our own up to the most remote times in the Church's history. Did the Christian doubt whether he might lawfully attend a heathen spectacle? "Think of your pledge," was the reply, "your renunciation."2 Is he tempted to complain when in prison for the truth's sake? "Call to mind the engagement you made as God's soldier, and take heart," is the exhortation.3 Is he employed in a trade which he now

1 Justin Mart. 1 Apol. § 67. Comp. Tertullian, De Spectac. § 24, where the terms of the Eucharistic Service are recalled to

the memory.

2 Tertullian, De Spectac. § 4. 3 Ibid. Ad Martyras, § 3.