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employed, in the name of Jesus Christ who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, for the benefit of the heathen, without making a traffic of them (like those itinérant exorcists and conjurers); for as they are received freely from God, so they are freely dispensed. Nothing is done by the invocation of angels (as the Theosophists of that day, with their pretended higher knowledge of the spiritual world; the worshipping of angels,' alluded to in Col. ii. 18); nothing by incantations and other impertinent intrusions into the invisible world; the only means they employ is to direct their prayers to the Lord, the Creator of all things, and to call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." In the beginning of the third century, Tertullian at Carthage, in his Apology for the Christians, which he addressed to the Roman governor of the provinces, Scapula, appeals to the fact, that he had persons in official situations about him who, however they might exclaim against the Christians, had received benefits from them; "for the notary is one, since, when he was thrown into a paroxysm by an evil spirit, he was freed by a Christian; others are indebted to a Christian for the restoration of a relative or a child. And how many honourable persons (for we will not here speak of those who belong to the populace) have been freed from possession by evil spirits or from illnesses."

In the third century, at a time when Christianity began to exercise great power over the mental atmosphere, and much intercourse existed between heathens and Christians, many persons received impressions of Christianity which operated unconsciously in the interior of their minds, and occasioned remarkable mental phenomena both by day and by night; so that to a person who had not diligently watched the secret processes in the development of his mind, many things might appear to be quite sudden, which yet had for a long time been unconsciously preparing in the laboratory of his soul. Thus, an individual, through a sudden revolution of his inner life, inexplicable to himself, and yet for which suitable preparation had been made, might be carried away by the force of Christian principles, and be converted from a vehement opposer to a devoted advocate of Christianity. To such phenomena Origen appeals when he says, in his first book against Celsus, that many, as it were, against their will,

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PATIENCE AND HUMILITY OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. 7

have been brought over to Christianity; since a certain spirit suddenly turned their reason from hatred against Christianity into zealous attachment, even at the cost of their lives, and presented certain images before the soul, either when awake or dreaming."

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Although such appearances were regarded by those to whom they happened as the effect of something external, yet they were pure operations which proceeded from the internal power of Christianity by which their minds were overpowered. Moreover, all external appliances could only serve-in the case of earthly-minded men, who felt no moral solicitude which might serve as a point of connection for the gospelto awaken them first of all from their stupidity, and make them receptive of the divine power of the gospel. By a continued succession of miracles, Christianity could not have taken a firm hold on human nature, if it had not penetrated it by its divine power, and thus verified itself to be indeed that which alone can satisfy the higher necessities of the inner man. This divine power of the gospel revealed itself to the heathen in the lives of Christians, which showed forth the virtues of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light, and enabled them to walk as the children of God, in the midst of a perverse generation, among whom they shone as lights in the world." This announcement of the gospel by the life operated even more powerfully than its announcement by the word. "Our Lord," says Justin Martyr to the heathen, "does not wish us to use force, and to be imitators of the wicked, but he exhorts us by the power of patience and gentleness to rescue all men from a life of shame and evil desires. And this we are able to demonstrate in the case of many who belonged to you, who have been changed from being violent and tyrannical men either by observing the endurance in daily life of their (Christian) neighbours, or their extraordinary patience when defrauded by their fellow-travellers, or having proved them in businesstransactions."* They saw Christians meet death in the confi

* Οὐ γὰρ ἀνταίρειν δεῖ· οὐδὲ μιμητὰς εἶναι τῶν φαύλων βεβούληται ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ πραότητος ἐξ ἀισχύνης καὶ ἐπιθυμίας τῶν κακῶν ἄγειν πάντας προετρέψατο. Ο γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ πολλῶν τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν γεγενημένων ἀποδεῖξαι ἔχομεν· ἐκ βιαίων καὶ τυράννων μετέβαλον ἡττηθέντες, ἢ γειτόνων καρτερίαν βίον παρακο

dence of their faith with the greatest firmness and cheerfulness, oftentimes amidst extreme tortures; and this spectacle must have made a deeper impression, if they believed that these enemies of the gods, of whom popular fanaticism had spread the vilest and most monstrous reports, had been guilty of unnatural crimes. Many asked, what gives men such energy to do and suffer everything on account of their convictions, in an age of such abject weakness, when we see all things bending before earthly power? Whoever proposed this question endeavoured to make himself acquainted with Christianity; and the consequence was, that the inquirer became captivated with the truth of the divine doctrine. To such facts Tertullian appeals in addressing the Proconsul Scapula: "Whoever witnesses such endurance is disturbed as by some scruple of conscience, and is impelled to inquire what there is in the affair; and when he has ascertained the truth, forthwith follows it."* And towards the end of his Apology, he says, "Our numbers increase the oftener you cut us down. The blood of Christians is seed. Many among you have exhorted to the endurance of pain and death, as Cicero in his Tusculans, as Seneca, as Diogenes, as Pyrrho, as Callinicus; yet their words do not find so many disciples as Christians make by the teaching of their actions. That very obstinacy with which you reproach us is an instructress. For who is not struck by contemplating it, and led to inquire into the nature of our profession? And who that has inquired does not join us, or having joined, is not eager to suffer?"† Such was the experience

λουθήσαντές ἢ συνοδοιπόρων πλεονεκτουμένων ὑπομονὴν ξένην κατανοήσαντες ἢ συμπραγματευομένων πειρασθέντες. Justin. Apol. maj. fol. 63, tom. i, p. 170. ed. Otto. (Jena, 1842.)

* Nec tamen deficiet hæc secta, quam tunc magis ædificare scias, cum cædi videtur. Quisque enim tantam tolerantiam spectans, ut aliquo scrupulo percussus et inquirere accenditur, quid sit in causa; et ubi cognoverit veritatem, et ipse statim sequitur.-Tertullian. ad Scapulam.

+ Plures efficimur, quoties metimur a vobis; semen est sanguinis Christianorum. Multi apud vos ad tolerantiam doloris et mortis hortantur, ut Cicero in Tusculanis, ut Seneca in Fortuitis, ut Diogenes, ut Pyrrhon, ut Callinicus; nec tamen tantos inveniunt verba discipulos, quantos Christiani factis docendo. Illa ipsa obstinatio, quam exprobratis, Quis enim non contemplatione ejus concutitur, ad requirendum quid intus in re sit? Quis non ubi requisivit, accedit? Ubi accessit, pati exoptat ?-Tertull. Apol.

magistra est.

GOOD EFFECTS OF THEIR EXAMPLE.

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of Justin Martyr when he thought that he had found in the Platonic philosophy that satisfaction for his religious necessities which the ancient popular faith could not furnish, and had his attention first drawn to Christianity by the calumnies propagated against its professors; as he himself tells us in his larger Apology," While I was delighted with the doctrine of Plato, and heard the Christians calumniated, but saw them fearless in the prospect of death, and of all other things which are wont to be dreaded, I judged it impossible that they could live in vice and debauchery."

There was also a diversity in the course of the inner life by which men were rendered receptive of the gospel, or by which that moral craving which can find satisfaction in Christianity alone, was excited in their hearts. In many persons a powerful but indistinct sense of guilt was aroused. Their consciences placed before them the wrath of an estranged Deity, and in the anguish of their souls they beheld themselves surrounded by evil spirits, who endeavoured to ensnare them. But as long as they did not understand their own moral condition, and had no one at hand either able or willing to throw light upon it, (for their priests and Goetæ could only lead them further into error,) they sought for the grounds of the divine wrath, and the method of reconciliation with offended heaven in outward things; for man, who is least at home with himself, is always disposed to seek out of himself what he ought to seek in the depths of his own being. Hence arose the numberless forms of superstition, in which a conscience ill at ease takes refuge. The unhappy life of those men who day and night were haunted by the spectres of their own anguish, has been depicted by a profound observer of the mental phenomena of his age (Plutarch), in his work on superstition and unbelief. While awake," he says, they do not use their reason, and when asleep they are not free from the sources of disquietude; their reason always dreams; their fear is always awake; they are without a refuge.'

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This noble-minded man, who was not far from the kingdom of God, but who had not beheld the moral order of the universe and human nature in the light of the gospel, was mistaken in supposing that only false notions of the mature of the gods were the source of such superstition, and that by

indicating what was erroneous in these notions superstition might be conquered. Those erroneous views were not accidental, but necessary; they had a deeper foundation, and a foundation in truth. It was of no use, though it might succeed for an instant, to convince these unhappy men that they tortured themselves with groundless fears. As long as their not merely imaginary, but real inward malady, was not healed, so long must new images of terror be constantly rising before them. It was in vain to say that the gods were not envious, hostile beings, that nothing but good was to be expected from them. Their consciences spoke a different language, and caused them to dread an unknown, offended power. What an impression would the gospel make on such men! It no longer tortured them with requirements which they felt themselves unable to fulfil, but announced to them first of all the free grace and compassion of their Father in heaven, who, out of pure love, had sent his only-begotten Son into the world, and caused him to endure the greatest sufferings for their sakes, in order to free them from their misery, and to bring them as fallen children to their reconciled Father, who was willing to regard all their transgressions as if they had not been committed. The Son of God, crucified for sinners, was presented to their heavy-laden souls, who himself sinless, the Holy One, bore their sins, and was a personal manifestation of the love of a reconciled God. Now the burden was at once taken away from their hearts, all the spectres of their guilty conscience vanished before the filial confidence in God, and joy filled their inmost souls. They no longer dreaded evil spirits, for they knew that Christ had taken away their power; that no power could wrest from the hands of their Almighty Father those who were united to God through Christ: they had indeed the confident assurance that the kingdom of evil must become subject to them in the name of Jesus Christ. From this point of view the Apostle Paul combated superstition, attacking it in the stronghold, in his Epistle to the Colossians: How can you any longer dread evil spirits, since the heavenly Father himself has redeemed you from the kingdom of darkness and translated you into the kingdom of his dear Son-since he has exalted him victoriously to heaven to share in the divine power of his Father, with which he now operates on humanity-since by his sufferings

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