Dioclefian, and put Maximin, his nephew, in his own place,) and in the Weft by Conftantius.

Maximin inherited the favagenefs and the prejudices of his uncle; and in Palestine and in the more Eastern parts, over which Galerius had ruled, he ftill continued the horrors of the perfecution. Let us now attend to the remaining part of Eufebius's account of the martyrs of Palestine, who fuffered under the authority of this tyrant at different times.

Applian, a young perfon under twenty, who had received a very polite education at Berytus, and could not bear to live with his father and relations at Paga in Lycia, because of their averfion to the Gospel, left all his fecular emoluments and hopes for the love of Chrift, and came to Cæfarea; where he was fo tranfported with zeal as to run up to Urbanus the governor, then making a libation, to feize him by the right hand, to ftop his religious employment, and exhort him to forfake idolatry, and turn to the true God. The confequence was, what might be expected in the natural courfe of things. He was arrefted, ordered to facrifice, and, after he had fuftained moft dreadful tortures by fire and otherwise, which Eufebius* defcribes with an exactness of detail that need not be repeated, he was thrown into the fea. His imprudence was great, and his zeal very irregular and extravagant; but who will not. admire the fincerity of that love of Chrift, which carried this lively youth through all hardships, and prefer his difpofition, with all his faults, to the cowardice and love of the world, which in our times. prevents fuch numbers from daring to fhew due regard for the divine Saviour?

This Apphian had a brother called Ædefius, who had advanced farther in the philofophical ftudies.

than

§ C. IV.

than himself, and who likewise embraced the faith of Chrift. Prifons, bonds, and the drudgery of the mines of Palestine, he endured with great patience and fortitude; at length he came to Alexandria, and there faw the judge raging with frantic fury againft Chriftians, treating the men with various abuses, and giving up chafte virgins, who had devoted themselves to a fingle life, to pimps, to be treated in the vileft manner. Fired at the fight, he loft all patience, rebuked the magiftrate, and ftruck him. Upon which he was expofed to a variety of torture, and thrown into the fea. He feems to have poffeffed both the excellencies and the faults of his brother. It is proper to add*, that this inhuman magiftrate was no other than the philofophical Hierocles, whofe affected humanity and candour we have celebrated above. A remark or two may be proper in this place, before we proceed.

1. The perfecution we are reviewing found the church in the lowest state of Chriftian wisdom and piety. In addition to what I have faid on the ungenerous remarks of Mr. Gibbon, concerning the behaviour of defius, it fhould be obferved, that amidft the great dearth of inftruction, in which he had learned Chriftianity, it is not to be wondered at, that he should know his duty fo poorly. I compare the piety of him and of Apphian to that of Jephtha and of Samfon; fincere, but irregular and injudicious. They lived under fimilar circumftances, in times of ignorance. The Spirit of God, when he creates a new heart, and a new fpirit, and furnishes the man with difpofitions for obedience, fuperfedes not the ufe of paftoral inftruction. Where this is much wanted, even divine love it felf, though ftrong, is blind, comparatively fpeaking, and will miftake the rule of duty continually, It is in vain,

* See Valefius' notes on Eufeb.

that.

+ Remarks on Gibbon.

that I look out for judicious and discreet paftors, and for clear evangelical views in all this period. No Cyprian or Dionyfius now appeared, to check, to regulate, to controul the fpirits of Chriftians, and to difcipline them by Scripturc-rules. The perfecution found vaft numbers perfidious and cowardly; fome chofen fpirits, humble and faithful to death, but of these many, it is to be feared, poorly informed of their duty both to God and man, and mixing with the love of Chrift the intemperance and precipitation of blind felf-will. The beft ufe to be made of this obfervation, after teaching us to be candid to the faults of thefe good men, is this, that those who enjoy the advantage of better inftruction and wife paftors, fhould thankfully improve their privileges, and not by the want of juft fubordination deprive themfelves of the opportunity of exhibiting more regular and edifying examples of holinefs. That knowledge was thus low among Chriftians, is evident from this, that Eufe. bius, one of the moft learned of those times, extols a conduct in thefe brethren, which every Chriftian of common light and capacity now would condemn.

2. I fee alfo the prevalence both of the monastic and of the philofophic fpirit. Devotees were encreafing in numbers among ferious perfons; and Origenifim had made philofophy more and more reputable. Under this influence the two brothers, whofe ftory we have feen, imbibed too much of Platonifm, knew too little of Chriftianity, and though fincere enough to become martyrs for Chrift, attained not the praife of Chriftian fimplicity. The doctrines of Chrift had ceafed to be explicitly unfolded; and it was in fufferings chiefly, endured with patient faith and cheerful hope, that we can now fee, that Chrift had yet a church in the world. The buth

bush was burning indeed in a fire the moft dreadful, yet it was not confumed.

In the fourth year of the perfecution happened the martyrdom of Agapius at Cæfarea. Maximin Cæfar was there exhibiting fpectacles in honour of his birth-day. The ferocioufnefs of pagans was doubtless much augmented by the ufual barbarous sports; and the native enmity of the mind against godlinefs met not with fo many checks of humanity, in times of perfecution, as it would in our days of civilization. But it should be remembered, that it was not philofophy, but the gofpel, which improved, in this as well as other refpects, the mora lity of the Roman empire. Agapius, who had been thrice before brought on the stage, and had thrice been refpited by the compaffion of the judge, was now brought before the emperor, to fulfil, fays Eufebius, that word of Chrift, "ye shall be brought before kings for my name's fake." A flave who had murdered his master was produced at the fame time, and condemned to the wild beafts. The emperor, with a view to diftinguifh his birth-day by an act of generofity, both pardoned and gave freedom to the murderer. The whole amphitheatre rang with acclamations in praife of his clemency. But it was perfectly to act in character, for Maximin to punish the innocent, and to fpare the guilty. He asked Agapius, if he would renounce Christianity, promifing him liberty on that condition. The martyr expreffed his cheerful readiness to undergo any punishment, not for any crime committed by him, but for piety toward the Lord of the univerfe. He was condemned to be torn by a bear, and ftill breathing, was carried back to prifon; where after he had lived a day, with weights hung to his feet, he was funk in the fea. The exclamation of the Jews, in the history of our Saviour, "not this man but Barabbas,"

B 4

rabbas," naturally occurs to Eufebius on this occafion.

In the fifth year of the perfecution, a Tyrian virgin, Theodofia, not quite eighteen years old, was put to death for owning and countenancing fome Christian prifoners. The judge, Urbanus, afterwards condemned them to the mines of Palestine. Silvanus a prefbyter, afterwards a bishop, with fome others, was doomed to the labour of the brafs-mines, the joints of their feet being first weakened by the application of hot iron.

Few perfecutors exceeded Urbanus in malice and activity. He doomed three to fight with one another; Auxentius, a venerable old faint, he condemned to the beafts. Some of them he condemned to the mines after he had made them eunuchs. Others, after bitter torments, he threw into prifon again.

If any be ftill inclined to regard the calculation of thofe, who represent the number of the martyrs as fmall, let him confider, that it was evidently very much the policy of this, and moft probably of the former perfecutions, to torment Chriftians without destroying them. The emperors did not wifh to rob themfelves of fuch a number of fubjects, but to fubdue them to their will. Yet in many inftances the human frame muft have funk under thefe hardfhips; and the multitude of Chriftian fufferers on this account, in addition to the evils of poverty and flight, muft exceed all powers of calculation.

Urbanus tortured, among others, the famous Pamphilus, the friend of Eufebius. But he lived not to fee his martyrdom. Being himself convicted of crimes, Urbanus was capitally punished in Cæfarea, the scene of his cruelties, and by the fame Maximin, of whofe imperial favageness he had been the minifter.

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