Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE FIRST AGE OF THE MARTYR CHURCH.215calumnies, which seem now almost grotesque, butthen found wide belief. But it was the existenceof such * a law as this, acted on by Pliny before hereferred to the emperor, and confirmed by Trajan, *that gave force and effect to all these causes ofpersecution. And it would appear that when Christianswere brought before the magistrates, as guiltyof the Christian Faith, it was not in the magistrates'power to decline hearing the case, any morethan any other accusation of sacrilege or treason,for it had been determined that Christians were nota mere Jewish sect, and therefore could not in securityworship one God, as the Jews did. It was aruled point that their worship was unauthorised.The practice of Trajan himself was in accordancewith his answer to Pliny.The very ancient and genuine acts of the marrdomof S. Ignatius O state that having o struledwith difficulty through the persecution of Domi-tian, he had carefully governed his church of An-tioch, grieving only that he had not yet reachedthe rank of a perfect disciple by the sacrifice of hislife, for he considered that the confession which ismade by martyrdom brings into closer union withthe Lord. Trajan then havin -*- * V^ E _*-A \^\ff^/ V^»ton at te victories whichgained, and considering that the subjugation of theChristians was all that was wanting to the perfectobedience of his empire, began to threaten themwith the alternative of sacrifice or death. ThenO