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CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR ADRIAN.

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the ruling passions of his soul were curiosity and vanity. As these prevailed, and as they were attracted by different objects, Adrian was, by turns, an excellent prince, a ridiculous sophist, and a jealous tyrant." He began his reign A. D. 117, and swayed the sceptre one and twenty years, viz. to the year 138; we shall now briefly glance at the state of the friends of Christianity during this period.

In the sixth year of his reign, Adrian paid a visit to the city of Athens, where he was formally initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries. He is described by Tertullian as being in the highest degree curious and inquisitive. His knowledge, we are told, was various and extensive; he had studied all the arts of magic; and was passionately fond of the rites and institutions of Paganism. At the time he visited Athens, there was a Christian church there, of which Quadratus was pastor, having succeeded Publius who suffered martyrdom either in this or the preceding reign. It seems probable that the church at Athens had undergone a severe persecution about this time; for we are informed that when Quadratus took the oversight of it he found the flock in a confused and dispersed state-their public assemblies were neglected, their zeal languished, and they were in danger of being entirely scattered. Quadratus laboured indefatigably to recover them, and he succeeded. Order and discipline were restored to such an extent that at a subsequent period, when Origen wrote his treatise against Celsus, which was about a century after, he refers to the church at Athens as exhibiting a notable pattern of good order, constancy, meekness, and quietness.

Quadratus drew up and presented to the emperor Adrian an apology for Christianity,* which is said to have been the first written apology tendered to any of the Roman emperors. It is described as containing evident marks of the writer's ability, and of the true apostolic doctrine; but only a valuable fragment of it now remains, and that relates to the Saviour's miracles. It was delivered to the emperor in the year 126, and, according to Jerome, it had a favourable effect: in

* It may not be amiss to mention, in this place, that the word " Apology," as used by the primitive Fathers, invariably denotes a Vindication of what is right; not an excuse for something wrong.

deed, Eusebius intimates the same thing in his chronicle. Of the time and circumstances of the death of Quadratus we have no record; but Eusebius, in his account of him, repeatedly mentions one "Aristides, a faithful man of our religion, who left an apology for our faith as Quadratus did, addressed to Adrian ;" and he, moreover, informs us that this Aristides had been an Athenian philospher. Jerome also, in his book of illustrious men, confirms this account, with the addition of another circumstance, viz. that after his conversion he continued to wear his former habit of a philosopher. His words are, “Aristides, a most eloquent Athenian philosopher, and, in his former habit, a disciple of Christ, presented to the emperor Adrian, at the same time with Quadratus, a book containing an account of our sect, that is, an Apology for the Christians,' which is still extant a monument with the learned of his ingenuity." To our great regret there is nothing of the apology of Aristides now remaining.

The learned Mosheim has remarked, concerning the period of which we are now treating, that such of the Christians as could conceal their profession were indeed sheltered under the law of Trajan, which was therefore a disagreeable restraint upon the Heathen priests, who breathed nothing but fury against the disciples of Jesus. The office of an accuser was also become dangerous, and very few were disposed to undertake it, which put the priests upon inventing new methods of oppressing the Christians. The law of Trajan was consequently artfully evaded under his successor Adrian. The populace, set in motion by their priests, demanded from the magistrates, with one voice, during the public games, the destruction of the Christians; and the magistrates, fearing that a sedition might be the consequence of despising or opposing these popular clamours, were too much disposed to indulge them in their request. During these commotions, Serenus Granianus, proconsul of Asia, represented to the emperor how barbarous and unjust it was to sacrifice, to the fury of a lawless multitude, persons who had been convicted of no crime.

This seems to be the first instance upon record of any Roman governor publicly daring to question the propriety and justice of Trajan's edict, which, independently of any moral turpitude, inflicted the punishment of death on Christians, solely on account

RESCRIPT OF THE EMPEROR ADRIAN.

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of their profession; but the remonstrance was not without effect. Adrian saw the propriety of the complaint, and his moderation in yielding to it has been attributed to the admirable apologies of Quadratus and Aristides, above mentioned; which were every way proper to dispel the angry prejudices of a mind that had any sense of equity and humanity remaining. Serenus, at the time of writing his remonstrance, seems to have been on the eve of resigning his office; but Adrian addressed the following rescript to his successor :—

TO MINUTIUS FUNDANUS.

"I have received a Letter written to me by the very illustrious Serenus Granianus, whom you have succeeded. To me then the affair [concerning the Christians] seems by no means a fit one to be slightly passed over, that men may not be disturbed without cause, and that sycophants may not be encouraged in their odious practices. If the people of the province will appear publicly, and prefer open charges against the Christians, so as to afford them an opportunity of answering for themselves—let them proceed; but in that manner only, and not by rude demands and mere clamour. For it is much more proper, if any person will accuse them, that you should take cognizance of these matters. If, therefore, any should accuse the Christians, and show that they actually break the laws, do you determine according to the nature of the crime. But, by Hercules! if the charge be a mere calumny, do you estimate the enormity of such calumny, and punish it as it deserves."

This rescript of the emperor Adrian, taken according to its obvious acceptation, would seem to cover the Christians from the fury of their enemies, inasmuch as it rendered them punishable on no other ground than the commission of crimes, and especially as the magistrates refused to interpret their religion as the crime mentioned in the Imperial edict: but we shall see that under the following reign their enemies adopted a new method of attack, viz. by accusing them of impiety and atheism. But, before we proceed to this, it may be proper to pause, and introduce a short notice of Jewish affairs.

Half a century had now elapsed since the city and temple of Jerusalem had fallen before the arms of the Romans; and during this interval the Jews continued to multiply wonderfully. Many

thousands of them were spread over various parts of the known world, especially in Asia and Africa. Their great numbers fomented and cherished a bold and ferocious spirit, which vented itself in several violent attempts to restore their government. Their first rebellion was about the eighteenth year of the emperor Trajan, A. D. 116. It extended through the Jewish population of Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica, Cyprus, and the neighbouring coasts; and, being opposed by the arms of Rome, much blood was spilt on both sides.

A second rebellion broke out in the 16th year of the emperor Adrian (A. D. 133). This insurrection also was a very sanguinary one it continued progressively increasing for about four years. Tinius Rufus was at that time lieutenant in Palestine. The causes of the insurrection are related variously. Adrian had rebuilt the city of Jerusalem to a considerable extent, and the Jews were extremely irritated at beholding it inhabited by heathens, and sacrifices offered in it to Jupiter Capitolinus; add to which, that they could not endure the yoke of oppression and slavery which lay heavily upon them.

An impostor, who called himself Barchochebas or "Son of the Star," in allusion to the star of Jacob (Numb. xxiv. 17), was the chief instigator of this last insurrection. He announced himself to be the Messiah and restorer of the Jewish kingdom, who had been foretold by the prophets; and, the better to secure his popularity, he practised upon the credulity of the people by juggling tricks. The seat of war was in Palestine, where Barchochebas obtained possession of a strongly fortified town called Bethera, or Bethar, not far from Jerusalem. After a long siege it was taken by the Romans, and became the theatre of Jewish tragedy, and great cruelties. As might have been expected, an unpitying destruction of the Jews immediately took place, and it was the more severe, because they had long irritated and vexed the Romans. But their sufferings were a just reward for their cruelty and unrelenting hatred toward the Christians, whose principles would not allow them to unite in rebellion against the government. In the end, most of these disaffected persons perished by hunger, thirst, or slaughter; and, by command of the emperor, the Jews were interdicted, on pain of death, from entering Jerusalem. This ruin of the Jewish affairs proved an

REIGN OF THE ANTONINES.

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advantageous event to the Christians at Jerusalem, who were thereby delivered from the rage of implacable enemies. That church was also now cleansed from Judaism, and, from that time, persons whose sentiments were tinctured with a leaning towards the rites of the Mosaic economy were carefully precluded from the office of bishop or elder.

Adrian was succeeded in the government of the empire, A. D. 138, by Titus Antoninus Pius, a senator about fifty years of age, whom Adrian declared his successor, on the express condition that he himself should immediately adopt Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, a youth of about seventeen, as his colleague, and by these two Antonines the Roman world was governed for forty years, that is, from 138 to 180. Their united reigns, according to Gibbon, form possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government. Our concern, however, is principally with the state of the professors of Christianity during their administration.

The elder Antoninus appears to have been a most amiable prince. He caused order and tranquillity to be maintained throughout the empire; and, though himself a heathen, he was never guilty, so far as his own personal character and intentions were concerned, of wantonly shedding the blood of Christians. They were, however, cruelly treated in some of the Asiatic provinces, and this occasioned Justin Martyr to draw up his first apology, which was presented to the emperor. The crimes laid to their charge by the Pagan priests, as already intimated, were those of impiety and atheism, and to a refutation of these is Justin's first apology mainly directed. In several of the former edicts, the word crime had not been sufficiently determined in its signification; and not only the priests, but some of the magistrates also applied it to the profession of Christianity itself. But Antoninus issued an edict in which he decided the point in favour of the Christians, and on the side of humanity and justice. He addressed a letter to the magistrates throughout the district of Asia to the following effect :

THE EMPEROR TO THE COMMON COUNCIL OF ASIA.

"I am clearly of opinion that the gods will take care to discover such persons [as those of whom a complaint had been

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