11.07.2015 Views

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

THE FIRST AGE OF THE MARTYR CHURCH.213To which the emperor replies : u You havepursued the right course, my dear Secundus, inexamining the causes <strong>of</strong> those delated to, you asChristians. For no universal rule can be laiddown in a certain formula. <strong>The</strong>y are not to besearched after; but if brought before you and convicted,they must be punished. Yet with this condition,that whoever denies himself to be a Christian,and makes it plain in fact, that is, by supplieatingour gods, though he has been in past timesuspected, shall obtain pardon for his repentance.^^^^^^^^ But anonymous delations must not be admitted forany accusation. This is at once the very worstprecedent, and unworthy <strong>of</strong> our time."A great difficulty in tracing the progress <strong>of</strong> theChristian Faith in these three centuries is that wepossess nothing like a consecutive secular or religioushistory <strong>of</strong> them. We only catch glimpses <strong>of</strong>what passes at intervals. Incidents are recordedwhich, like a flash <strong>of</strong> lightning, suddenly reveal thelandscape and the actors. Such an incident is thisletter <strong>of</strong> Pliny to Trajan, and his reply. We havehere the governor <strong>of</strong> a province before whom Chris-tians are brought as criminals. We find that ifthey acknowledge their faith and persist in pro-fessing it, he sentences them to death. But embarrassedby their numbers, and perplexed also bythe fact, that, save the pr<strong>of</strong>ession <strong>of</strong> their faith,there appeared nothing criminal in their conduct,he refers the matter to the emperor. <strong>The</strong> em-

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!