THE APOLOGY OF ATHENAGORAS.

225

charges can be made good against us, spare neither age nor sex -punish us, with our wives and children; extirpate us from the face of the earth, should any among us be found to live as beasts, though even the beasts of the field do not these abominable things. But, if any man be baser than a beast to commit such wickedness, let him be punished for it. If these, however, be false and scandalous charges against us, let them be noticed as such. Inquire into our lives, our sentiments, our obedience to authority, our concern for your person and government; allow us only that common justice and equity which you grant your enemies, and we ask no more, being assured of the victory, and we are even willing to lay down our lives for the truth."

Defending the Christians against the charge of Atheism, he says, "I have sufficiently shown that we are not Atheists; we who hold one God, unbegotten, eternal, invisible, not subject to suffering, incomprehensible, not circumscribed by place, conceived only by the mind and reason, surrounded by ineffable light and beauty, and Spirit and Power, by whom through his Word every thing was made and adorned, and is preserved. We acknowledge also a Son of God: and let no one think it ridiculous that there should be a Son of God. For we deem not of God and the Father, or of the Son, as the poets fable, who represent the gods as no better than men. The Word of the Father is the Son of God, in idea and operation; for "by Him and through Him were all things made"-the Father and the Son being one; the Son being in the Father, and the Father in the Son, by the unity and power of the Spirit. The mind and word of God is the Son of God."

Again: "That we are not Atheists," says he, "we can convince you by the principles we hold, which are not of human invention, but delivered and taught by God. What then are our maxims, in which we are instructed? I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,'" Matt. v. 44, 45. Thus quoting our Lord's sermon on the Mount, from which he makes various other extracts.

Further in vindicating their manner of life, Athenagoras thus

VOL. 1.

:

Q

proceeds "Who among those who analyse syllogisms, and resolve ambiguities, and explain etymologies, and define hononymes, and categories, and axioms, and the subject, and the predicate, and profess that by such instructions they can make their hearers happy,-who among them are so purified in their souls, as, instead of hating, to love their enemies; as, instead of doing that which is even deemed a mark of the greatest moderation, viz. retorting evil language—to bless their calumniators, and even to pray for those who are laying snares against their life? The heathen teachers of knowledge, on the contrary, are ever forming some forbidden scheme against their adversaries, and desiring to do them injury-making their profession a mere flourish of words and not a rule of practice. But among us the meanest day-labourers, and even aged women, though not able to dispute about their religious profession, can nevertheless demonstrate its usefulness by their lives and good works. They do not indeed critically weigh their words, and recite elegant orations, but they manifest honest and virtuous actions, while, being buffeted, they strike not again, nor sue those at law who spoil and plunder them: they deal out liberally to those that ask, and love their neighbour as themselves. Thus we act, because we are assured that there is a God who superintends human affairs, who made us and the whole world, and to whom we must ultimately give an account of all the actions of our lives."*

I mentioned that Athenagoras had also written a treatise on the Resurrection, in which he refers in a very pointed manner to 1 Cor. xv. He argues at great length against the disadvantages that must attend the practice of virtue, upon the supposition that there was no resurrection of the dead. Indeed the apostle Paul had done the same thing when he said, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." For, take away all consideration of a life to come, and the men who have their portion in this world have a great advantage over the Christian. He observes that many of the best men endure in this life vexation and sorrow, reproaches and calumnies and then goes on to say, that, if there be no retribution, virtue must be a senseless thing-to pursue sensual plea

* Athenagoras' Legatio pro Christianis, cap. iv.

SOME ACCOUNT OF HEGESIPPUS.

227

sure must be to seek the greatest good, and that this ought to be the common maxim and law of all, which is admired by the voluptuous and wicked, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."* But, leaving you to indulge your own reflections on this noble defence of Christianity from the pen of Athenagoras, I shall proceed to-

HEGESIPPUS, who was originally a Jew, but converted to the Christian faith. He was born about the beginning of the second century and died during the reign of the emperor Commodus, A. D. 180 to 193. He composed a History of the Affairs of the Church from the period of the resurrection of Christ to his own times. Jerome, speaking of this work, says, "he collected together a great variety of matters for the benefit of his readers, which he wrote in five books in a plain and simple manner, conforming as much as possible to the style of the evangelists, thereby, doubtless, intimating that his narrative was remarkable for its plainness and simplicity; but, unfortunately, we have only a few fragments of them remaining, and these are preserved partly by Eusebius and partly by Photius. Hegesippus came to Rome, it appears, at the time that Anicetus was bishop of the church there, and continued to the time of Eleutherus, that is, from about 168 to 192; for between these two bishops Soter had intervened.

In a fragment of his writing we have an account of the death of the apostle James (the writer of the epistle) at Jerusalem, concerning which Dr. Lardner remarks that the narrative is drawn up very much in the style of the New Testament Scriptures. According to his account the apostle was cast down from a battlement of the temple by his adversaries, and, as this did not immediately deprive him of life, they began to stone him: but he kneeling down put up this prayer in their behalf," I beseech thee, O Lord God the Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

In another of the fragments of Hegesippus we have an account of the emperor Domitian's inquiry after the posterity of David. That emperor, it appears, like Herod, who put to death the children at Bethlehem, was led to entertain fears lest some

of the relatives of Jesus Christ, of whom several survived in his day, should excite a rebellion, lay claim to the imperial throne, and overturn his government. To guard against so direful a catastrophe, Domitian caused an inquiry to be instituted respecting the kindred of Jesus Christ then living, their number, rank, and station in society; and it was ascertained that there yet remained the grandsons of Jude (author of the epistle), who were called his brothers, according to the flesh. They were accordingly brought before the emperor by Evocatus, one of his officers. Being interrogated concerning their property or possessions, they gave proof that they were poor labouring men, and, consequently, that the Roman emperor had nothing to fear from them. They were then asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what kind it was, and when and where it should appear? They answered that it was not a worldly kingdom; not mundane, but heavenly and angelical, and would appear (viz. in its true grandeur) in the end of the world, according to 2 Tim. iv. 1, when he, coming in glory, should judge the quick and the dead, and render to every man according to his works.*

Another of the Fathers of the primitive church, of whom I proposed to take some little notice, is THEOPHILUS, bishop or elder of the church at Antioch, who wrote in the reign of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, A. D. 180. He was originally a heathen, as he himself informs us; and his works show him to have been a man of extensive erudition, well versed in Greek learning, and a zealous defender of the faith against the heretics Hermogenes and Marcion, as well as the calumnious misrepresentations of the heathen of his day. He succeeded Eros, in the pastoral office of that church, in the eighth year of Marcus Antoninus, or A. D. 168. His writings have perished, except three books, which he addressed to Autolychus on the Christian religion. The latter was a learned and studious heathen, who, it seems, had goaded Theophilus by frequent conversations, if not by writings, to defend himself and his religion. Jerome, in his book of illustrious men, says, "Theophilus, the sixth bishop of the church of Antioch, in the reign of Marcus Antoninus, composed a book against Marcion (the heretic), which is still

Euseb. Hist. Eccles. p. 90, A. R.

THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH AND HIS WRITINGS.

229

extant. His three volumes to Autolychus are also in being, and one book against the heresy of Hermogenes, with other short and elegant treatises, conducive to the edification of the church. The first book is properly a discourse between him and Autolychus, in answer to what the latter had said against Christianity. The second labours to convince him of the falsehood of his own and the truth of the Christian religion. In the third, after having proved that the Heathen mythology was full of absurdities and contradictions, he vindicates the doctrine and lives of the Christians from those false and scandalous imputations which were then brought against them. Lastly, at the end of his work, he adds an historical chronology from the beginning of the world to his own time, to prove that the history of Moses is at once the most ancient and the truest; and in this little compendium Theophilus has given proof of his intimate acquaintance with profane history, while the quotations which Lardner has produced equally show his acquaintance with the holy Scriptures. It is remarkable that the first mention which is on record of the use of the word Trinity, to express the revealed distinction in the Godhead, is found in the writings of the patriarch of Antioch. His style is elegant, and the specimen which remains of his compositions is sufficient to show that he was a very eloquent man.

:

Speaking of the prophets, Theophilus says, "First, they taught us, with one consent, that God made all things out of nothing for nothing was contemporaneous with God. But he being in his own place, and needing nothing, and existing before the ages, willed to make man, by whom he might be known. For him, therefore, he prepared the world :—for he that is created stands in need (of another), but he that is increate wants nothing. God, therefore, having his own WORD internal, within his own bowels, begat him, emitting him in conjuuction with his wisdom, before all things. He had this Word as his minister in the work of creation, and by Him he made all things. He is called the beginning, because he is the commencement and ruler over all things created by him. He, therefore, being the Spirit of God, and the beginning and the Wisdom, and the Power of the Most High, descended into the prophets, and through them spake of the creation of the world and of all other things; for