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one without the other. Whether he was so wise as to separate them, may be partly discerned from what we have now seen.

II. There is still remaining a work of this emperor in twelve books, which we generally * call his Meditations. They must have been put together at several times as he had leisure. However some have computed that they were composed before the year 175.

b

In the eleventh book of that work there is an observation which I shall now transcribe, and place here.

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What a soul is that which is prepared, even now presently, if needful, to be separated from the body, whether it be to be extinguished, or to be dispersed, or to subsist still. But this readiness must proceed from a well weighed judgment, not from mere obstinacy, like the Christians. And it should be done considerately, and with gravity, without tragical excla⚫mations, and so as to persuade another.'

In the English translation, published at Glasgow in 1742, the same passage stands thus: How happy is that soul which is prepared either to depart presently, or to be extinguished, or dispersed, or to remain along with it! But let this preparation arise from its own judgment, ⚫ and not from mere obstinacy, like that of the Christians: that you may die considerately, with a venerable composure, so as even to persuade others into a like disposition, and without noise and ostentation.' p. 259, 260.

d

Upon this passage Dr. Jortin has a remark which is to this purpose: The emperor Marcus was prejudiced against the Christians; and in his book, xi. 3, censures very unreasonably what he ought to have approved-this readiness and resolution to die for their religion.'

Certainly that remark is very just, and I think very mild; for, if I were to allow myself to speak freely, I should say that this is the basest reflection upon the Christians that I remember to have met with among all their old enemies. To say it is unbecoming a gentleman, and an emperor, is to say nothing. It is insensibility and inhumanity: in a word, stoicism. It is the worse, as it comes from a magistrate; who, if he had been pleased to send proper orders to the officers under him, and particularly to the governors of provinces, he might have delivered the Christians from that trial which is here supposed.

It may seem strange to some that such a man as Marcus Antoninus should pass any censure the Christians' fortitude. One would rather think that, as a stoic, he should have admired and commended their resolution: but it may be accounted for.

upon

1. The Christians refused to join in the common worship of the heathen deities: and they were likewise very free in their reflections upon the philosophers.

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2. They out did the stoics themselves in patience under all kinds of sufferings. The women and children and common people among the Christians had in a short time shewn more examples of true fortitude, than the stoics had done since the origin of their sect.

3. Once more.

This emperor was a bigot in religion and in philosophy: whereas bigotry in any one thing will have bad effects, and make the best tempers act contrary to the laws of equity upon some occasions.

It will not be thought that I speak with too much severity, if we examine the several particulars of this passage; which I now intend to do; and afterwards I shall mention some corollaries.

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(1.) Marcus's expressions denote great uncertainty concerning a future state of existence;

a Ta EIS ÉQUTOV. De Rebus suis.

b See Tillemont. Marc. Aurele. art. 28.

- Οία εσιν ή ψυχη, ή έτοιμος, εαν ήδη απολυθήναι δεη του σώματος, και ήτοι σβεσθήναι, η σκεδασθήναι, η συμμεῖναι ; Το δε έτοιμον τετο, ἵνα απο ιδικής κρίσεως ερχηται, μη κατα ψιλην παρατάξιν, ὡς οἱ Χρισιανοι αλλά λελογισμένως, και σεμνώς, και ώσε και άλλον πείσαι, ατραγῳδως. L. xi. sect. 3.

d Discourses concerning the truth of the Christian Religion, p. 57.

e Nisi constaret, Stoïcorum doctrinam, cui M. Aurelius addictus erat, plenam fuisse repugnantiis, quod singulari opere ostendit Plutarchus, mirum esset mortis contemtorem iis detrahere, qui eam despiciebant. Atque non licuit, Philosopho præsertim, in aliis damnare quæ in se et suis probaret. Cleric. H. E. ann. 165. n. iv.

f Vid. Justin. M. Ap. 2. p. 46. B. E. et 47. Paris. num. 3. p. 90. Bened et Tatian contr. Gentes. p. 157, 162. al. num. 19. p 260. et num. 25. p. 264.

8 Nostri autem (ut de viris taceam,) pueri, et mulierculæ, tortores suos taciti vincunt; et exprimere illis gemitus nec ignis potest. Eant Romani, et Mutio glorientur aut Regulo

Ecce sexus infirmus, et fragilis atas dilacerari se toto corpore, urique perpetitur, non necessitate, quia licet vitare, si vellent, sed voluntate, quia confidunt Deo. Hæc est vera virtus, quam philosophi quoque gloriabundi, non re, sed verbis inanibus jactant; disserentes, nihil esse tam congruens viri sapientis gravitati, atque constantiæ, quam nullis terroribus de sententiæ proposito posse depelli. &c. Lactant. Instit. 1. 5. сар. 13.

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Nesciebant enim, [Stoïci] an qui corpore migrâssent,

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being doubtful whether the soul, when separated from the body, should be extinguished, or be dispersed, or still subsist.' He speaks again to the like purpose elsewhere: To what purpose all this?You have made your voyage, and arrived at your port. Go ashore; if into another life, the gods are there: if into a state of insensibility, you will be no longer distracted by pains and pleasures, nor be in subjection to this mean vessel.'

(2.) The Christians had a strong persuasion and good hopes of another life,-a life of happiness without end for all good and virtuous men. No men therefore could be ready to leave this world upon better grounds than they, when they could no longer live here with innocence. (3.) Marcus ascribes the Christians' willingness to die to obstinacy; and says that men ought to resign life only upon a well formed judgment, and considerately.'

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Did not the Christians die in that manner? Should they have denied themselves to be Christians, when they were brought before Pliny, or other governors, and were examined by them? Should they then have told a lie, and so redeem their lives by falsehood, or by worshipping images contrary to their judgment, and the principles which they had embraced after serious inquiry and consideration? Were not all wise and honest men persuaded that a man ought to die rather than do what he thought evil and dishonourable. Celsus, who wrote against the Christians, says as much. Was there any way for a Christian's escaping, but by criminal hypocrisy and dissimulation, when statues of heathen deities were set before him to be worshipped by him; or when he was required to revile Jesus Christ? They had taken up their principles upon consideration; and it was reasonable to adhere to them at all times.

(4.) Marcus says must be done considerately.'

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The Christians took up their principles upon consideration. When they first embraced them they could not but see that, as the world then stood, the making a profession of them was very likely to expose them to many sufferings. And therefore, when they first resolved upon Christianity, they must have resolved to adhere to it whatever it should cost them. By this means they were always ready to die, upon mature consideration, whenever the spite of their ignorant and prejudiced neighbours worked so far against them. And a constant readiness for a violent death, in a good cause, is the most glorious fortitude that can be imagined in a human

creature.

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(5.) He says it should be done gravely, without tragical exclamations.'

Upon this Le Clerc well observes that it is not a little strange that a stoic, whose writings

'animi extinguerentur, vel dispergerentur, vel permanerent.' quod cum ita haberet, nemini poterant probare virtutem Numini gratam, vitium contra invisum esse; cum bonos et malos nullo discrimine negligeret-Quod si numen talia non curaret, quid opus erat homines vel ipsius vitæ jacturâ virtutem colere, et vitio adversari ?—Exclamationi ergo, aut interrogationi M. Aurelii, qualis est anima, quæ parata est, si jam e corpore migrare, aut extingui, aut dispergi, aut permanere ' oporteat?' respondebimus: Misera et infelix, quæ nescit, quid a summo Numine exspectare virtus possit, aut vitium timere. Quod ferme perinde est, ac ignorare, an sit Deus, &c. Cleric ubi supr. num. v.

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a De Rebus suis, 1. 3. sect. 3.

b Verum inquiet, Philosophus mortem spernit proprio judicio, considerate.' Audio. Sed annon Christianus quivis mortem ferebat ex proprio judicio,' qui cinctus Ethnicis furentibus, aut ridentibus, et a morte revocantibus, si modo Diis sacra faceret, moriebatur tamen, quod mentiri nollet, nec ore, nec factis; quia nefas putabat, veritatem ejurare. Annon considerate satis, qui deprehensâ Ethnicæ religionis falsitate, et veritate ejus, quam Christus et apostoli docuerant, sese dudum parârat ad mortem, siquando vitari non posset, sine abnegatione veritatis?-Fac Epicureos fuisse rerum potitos, et furore quodam actos ad tribunalia sua traxisse Stoïcos, omnibus suppliciis propositis et morte ipsâ intentatâ, nisi Zenoni, Cleanthi, Chrysippo, cæterisque sectæ conditoribus maledixissent, negâssentque se iis adsentiri, et facerent quæcumque principes sectæ vetuerant, cum scirent se mentiri, et improbe facere; an se Stoicæ familiæ defensoribus, et mortem fortiter obeuntibus, exprobrâsset M. Aurelius aparativ? Immo vero summopere eos laudâsset, ut laudati sunt apud Ethnicos omnes, qui maluerunt moti, quam quidquam facere, quod

inhonestum et impium judicabant. Si voluisset Socrates contra animi sententiam loqui, et mentiri, ac sese ad pedes judicum abjicere, vitæ suæ sine dubio consuluisset; sed ejus absolutionem æterna infamia esset consecuta. Quod de cæteris omnibus, qui virtutis causa mortui sunt, dictum puta. Cleric. ib. num. iv.

C τοιαυτα τινα λέγει Εαν μεντοι γε κελευοι τις, ει τυχοι, θρησκευοντα Θεόν η ασέβειν, η άλλο τι αισχρον ειπείν, εδαμη αδαμως πιςευτεον, αλλά προ τετων πασαις βασανοις εγκαρτες ρητέον, και παντας θανατος ὑπομενητεον, πριν τι ανόσιον περι Θε8, μη ότι γε ειπειν, αλλα μελετησαι. Celsus ap. Orig. Contra Cels. 1. 8. p. 421. al. num. 66.

Nos quidem neque expavescimus, neque pertimescimus ea quæ ab ignorantibus patimur; cum ad hanc sectam utique susceptâ conditione ejus pacti venerimus, ut etiam animas nostras auctorati in has pugnas accedamus, ea, quæ Deus repro. mittit, consequi optantes, et ea, quæ diversæ vitæ comminatur, pati timentes, Tertull. ad. Scap. cap. i.

e Verum et hoc mirum est, hominem Stoïcum, et cujus liber plenus est exaggerationibus vere tragicis, hoc est, tumidis et fictis, exprobrare Christianis, quod arpaywows non more¬ rentur. Atqui nihil illi exaggerabant, cum vitam Deo repetenti, potius quam ab eo deficerent, libenter reddendam profitebantur Si qui, quod interdum factum negare nolim, crudelitate suppliciorum, propinquitate mortis, speque proxime beatitatis, extra se rapti, quædam proferebant, quæ supra vulgi Ethnici captum erant, an tribuenda hæc sunt aparate, obstinationi, vel perturbationi? Imo eo aut vitio, aut adfectu, vel maxime laborabant, qui innocentes excarnificatos occidebant, quod facere nollent, quæ illicita, et a Deo improbari, pro certo statuebant. Cleric. ib. ann. 165. n. iv.

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are full of affectation, and are all over tragical, should blame the Christians for not dying ⚫ without tragical noise and exclamation.' If they then called upon God and Christ; if they then exhorted their brethren to constancy and perseverance; if they expressed a contempt of this world, and its fading enjoyments; if they speak in sublime strains of the felicities of the world to come; in a word, if they triumphed in death, as some of them did, there is nothing in it absurd or unreasonable; nothing but what is truly admirable: the heathen people around them wanted nothing to make them sensible of it, but a better knowledge of the Christian principles; such as a persuasion of the boundless power and goodness of the one God, creator of all, and a well-grounded expectation of eternal life.

(6.) And lastly, Marcus says, it should be done so as to persuade another.'

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This alone, if there were nothing else, would be sufficient to satisfy us that Marcus was influenced by prejudice in his judgment concerning the Christians. It has been often said, and very truly, that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. And some early believers have themselves assured us, that they were led to inquire into the principles of the Christians when they observed their manner of dying; and that this was the first means of their own conversion. The like is often testified by Christian writers, who lived when the followers of Jesus were in suffering circumstances, and martyrdoms were frequent. But if there were nothing of this kind in the remains of ancient Christian authors, since there continued to be Christians in the world, and they suffered in every age, and were not extinguished, but remained and increased, as heathen writers themselves acknowledge; we may depend upon it that many did die so as to persuade others; their brethren were animated to patience and courage by their example; and unbelievers were awakened, and excited to serious examination, till they were convinced and converted.

d

of

As I have gone along, I have transcribed in the margin several remarks upon this passage Marcus Antoninus from Le Clerc's Ecclesiastical History. I would also refer to Mr. Mosheim, in whom likewise divers just observations may be seen upon the same.

But perhaps it will be said that the Christians gave cause for these censures by their too great forwardness, and by offering themselves to death.

To which I would answer. First, Instances of this kind were not very common, and they were disliked and condemned by the wiser sort. Some such instances there were during the persecution in Asia when Polycarp suffered. They are particularly mentioned, and censured in the epistle of the church of Smyrna, which gives an account of the martyrs in that city. And St. Cyprian, in his last letter to his people at Carthage, in the persecution of Valerian, in the year 258, exhorts them to a quiet and peaceable behaviour, but not to offer themselves to the magistrates; forasmuch as the Lord had not required it of us; but to confess his name when called upon so to do. And he reminds them that this had always been his doctrine. Secondly, There could be no instances of this kind but in times of persecution, and when there were magistrates who were disposed to inflict death upon men as Christians. Thirdly, The most remarkable instances of this kind happened when the persecution was violent. So it was in the case before taken notice of by us. g When Arrius Antoninus, proconsul of Asia, furiously persecuted the Christians in that country, a great number of them, in some city where he was, came before his tribunal, telling him he might do with them as he pleased, for they were not

Nec quidquam tamen proficit exquisitior quæque crudelitas

vestra.

İllecebra magis est sectæ. Plures efficimur, quoties metimur a vobis. Semen est sanguis Christianorum. Tertull. Ap. cap. 50.

5. Και γαρ αυτός εγω, τοις Πλατωνος χαιρων διδαγμασι, διαβαλλόμενες ακόων Χρισιανες, όρων δε αφοβες προς θάνατον, και παντά τα άλλα νομίζομενα φοβερα, ενώνουν αδύνατον είναι εν κακια και φιληδονια υπαρχειν αυτές. Justin. M. ap. 2. p. 50. a. al. p. 96 num. 12.

c Multi apud vos ad tolerantiam doloris et mortis hortantur, ut Cicero in Tusculanis, ut Seneca in Fortuitis- -Nec tamen tantos inveniunt verba discipulos, quantos Christiani factis docendo. Illa ipsa obstinatio, quam exprobratis, magistra est. Quis enim non contemplatione ejus concutitur ad requirendum, quid intus in re sit? Quis non, ubi requisivit, accedit? Ubi accessit, pati exoptat? Tertull. ap. cap. 50.

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d De Reb. Christianorum, sec. ii. p. 245, 246.

e Vid. Euseb. H. E. 1. 4. cap. 15 p. 129, 130.

' Vos autem, fratres carissimi, pro disciplinâ, quam de mandatis dominicis a me semper accepistis,quietem et tranquillitatem tenete: ne quisquam vestrum aliquem tumultum de fratribus moveat, aut ultro se Gentilibus offerat. Apprehensus enim et traditus loqui debet: siquidem in nobis Dominus positus illâ horâ loquatur, qui nos confiteri magis voluit quam profiteri. Ep. 81. al. 83. p. 239. Oxon.

8 See p. 32.

afraid to die. In like manner Scapula, proconsul of Africa, persecuted the Christians with great severity. Some he ordered to be burnt alive; though that was a punishment seldom inflicted even upon traitors, or the worst of criminals. Upon that occasion Tertullian puts him in mind of the forementioned conduct of the Christians in Asia: and, the more to alarm him, tells him the like might happen again, and at Carthage itself. And what would you do, says he, if you should see the Christians of that place present themselves in a body before your tribunal? What would you do with so many thousands of each sex, of every age, of every condition, and some of the most honourable persons of the city, some of them your friends, or friends and relations of your friends and counsellors!

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After all, it must be acknowledged that the Christians' readiness to die, and their intrepidity in death, were sometimes perverted to their disadvantage. Nor do I think that the primitive Christians were exempted from human frailty. Nevertheless I apprehend that the exceptions and reflections of this kind were chiefly owing to the prejudices and ignorance of misguided and sensual men, who minded little or nothing but the affairs of this present life; who did not consider the importance of religious truth, nor the great virtue and value of integrity, and a steady regard to the convictions of our own minds. So says Lactantius. And Tertullian has spoken to this point excellently at the conclusion of his Apology. He mentions Mutius, Regulus, and others, whose resolution had been admired and applauded by the • Greeks and Romans. And indeed,' says he, with you it is reputable to die for our country, 'for the commonwealth, for a friend; but to die for God and truth is reckoned reproachful • and dishonourable.'

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d

Certainly the first Christians, who were men as we are, and had the same sensations with us, were not weary of life; nor did they desire death: but as men engaged in a warfare, hazard their lives for the sake of victory, and the advantages of it; so the Christians of those times, desirous to approve themselves to God, and hoping for the reward of eternal life, were ready, if required, to lay down their lives rather than deny Christ and the truths which they had received from him.

The corollaries to be drawn from this passage are several; but they will be all easily admitted after what has been already said.

1. At that time the Christians were well known in the world. 2. The emperor Marcus was well acquainted with them, and had often heard of their sufferings. He knew that many Christians had died in testimony to their principles, and as Christians; and that the sufferings which they had undergone were in common estimation very grievous. 3. He knew, and here acknowledgeth, their resolution and steadiness in the profession of their principles for which they suffered death. This he calls obstinacy. 4. He had heard of their cheerfulness in death and in all the sufferings which they had met with. This he endeavours to disparage by com

a Pro tantâ innocentiâ, pro tantâ probitate, pro justitià, pro pudicitiâ, pro fide, pro veritate, pro Deo, vivi cremamur; quod nec sacrilegi, nec hostes publici, verum nec tot majestatis rei pati solent. Ad Scap. cap. 4. p. 88. A.

Vide tantum, ne hoc ipso, quod talia sustinemus, ad hoc solum videamur erumpere, ut hoc ipsum probemus, nos hæc non timere, sed ultro vocare. Arrius Antoninus in Asiâ cum persequeretur instanter, omnes illius civitatis Christiani ante tribunalia ejus se, manu factâ, obtulerunt-Hoc si placuerit et hic fieri, quid facies de tantis millibus hominum, tot viris ac feminis, omnis sexûs, omnis ætatis, omnis dignitatis, offerentibus se tibi? Quantis ignibus, quantis gladiis opus erit? Quid ipsa Carthago passura est decimanda a te, cum propinquos, cum contubernales suos illic unusquisque cognoverit, cum viderit illic fortasse et tui ordinis viros et matronas, et principales quasque personas, et amicorum tuorum vel propinquos vel amicos. Parce ergo tibi, si non nobis: parce Carthagini, si non tibi. Ad Scap. cap. 5.

Licet nunc sarmentitios ac semaxios appelletis, quia ad stipitem dimidii axis revincti sarmentorum ambitu exurimur. Propterea enim desperati, et perditi existimamur. Tertull. Ap. cap. 50. Vid. et Minuc. Fel. cap. 8. Lactant. I. 5. cap. 9. et Epit. cap. 54.

d Sed illi malitiâ et furore cœcantur, ne videant; stultosque arbitrantur esse, qui cum habeant in suâ potestate supplicia vitare, cruciari tamen, et emori malunt. Lact. 1. 5. cap. 13.

e O gloriam licitam, quia humanam, cui nec presumptio perdita, nec persuasio desperata reputatur, in contemptu mortis et atrocitatis omnimoda; cui tantum pro patriâ, pro imperio, pro amicitiâ pati permissum est, quantum pro Deo non licet. Et tamen illis omnibus et statuas defunditis, et imagines inscribitis- -quantum de monimentis potestis scilicet, præstatis et ipsi quodammodo mortuis resurrectionem : hanc qui veram a Deo sperat, si pro Deo patiatur, insanus est. Ap. cap. 50. p. 45.

f

Ergo, inquitis, cur querimini, quod vos insequamur, si pati vultis; cum diligere debeatis, per quos patimini quod vultis? Plane volumus pati, verum eo more, quo et bellum nemo quidem libens patitur, cum et trepidare, et periclitari sit necesse; tamen et præliatur omnibus viribus, et vincens in prælio gaudet, qui de prælio querebatur, quia et gloriam consequitur et prædam. Prælium est nobis, quod provocemur ad tribunalia, ut illis sub discrimine capitis pro veritate certemus. Victoria est autem, pro quo certaveris, obtinere. Ea victoria habet et gloriam placendi Deo, et prædam vivendi in æternum. Tertullian. Apol. c. 50, p. 44, B. C.

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paring it to the declamations of tragedies. 5. He was also persuaded of their innocence, or freedom from promiscuous lewdness and other gross crimes in their assemblies, with which they were charged by some. If he had known and believed that they practised such things he would have expressed himself very differently. 6. He despised and scorned the Christians as a mean, illiterate, and unphilosophical set of men. 7. He was not at all inclined to interpose in their behalf, either for preventing or for mitigating their sufferings. And hereafter we shall see that, when application was made to him by a governor for direction how to treat some men, who had been accused before him as Christians, and were in his custody, this emperor sent orders that they should be put to death,' unless they renounced the Christian doctrine. Once more, 8. I must beg leave to observe that we can hence infer, that the Christian scriptures were as yet held in contempt by the wise and great men of this world. The books of the New Testament were all published and joined together in two codes or volumes, one called Gospels, the other Epistles, before Marcus Antoninus was born: and they were in the hands of great numbers of his subjects, and were highly prized, and diligently read and studied by them. But he had never read them, nor perhaps ever seen them. They might, possibly, be well known to some of the philosophers, his masters: but they knew how to be silent and to keep their disciple in ignorance about what they did not desire he should know. Hence this great man, in the midst of light, was in darkness: he had no just apprehensions concerning a life to come.

The Christian religion, considering the difficulties it had met with, and that it contained no worldly allurements, had made great progress. But it was not yet the prevailing religion. The state of things in the world had still a resemblance with what it was in the time of St. Paul : 1 Cor. i. 22 and 26. "The Jews," says he, "require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.” And, "Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, "not many noble, are called." And Jesus himself, reflecting upon the success of his ministry after having preached the heavenly doctrine with unparalleled faithfulness and zeal, and observing that they were chiefly of the meaner rank with whom it had met with a ready acceptance, expressed his acquiescence in the event, and said: "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and "earth." I give glory to thee, cheerfully acquiescing in this dispensation of thy providence,' "that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. "Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Matt. xi. 25; Luke x. 21.

SECT. II.

OF THE PERSECUTIONS IN HIS TIME.

I. A general account of the persecutions in the reign of this emperor. II. Large extracts out of the Martyrdom of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who, with twelve others, suffered in that city in the year 167 or 168. III. The history of the martyrs at Lyons, who suffered in the year 177. IV. Remarks and observations upon the foregoing history.

I. I THINK it must be fit for me to take some particular notice of the treatment which the Christians met with in the reign of this emperor, who by the ancients is always reckoned among the persecuting emperors. Eusebius placeth the fourth persecution under him; as does also Orosius, who follows him. Sulpicius, thinking that the Christians were persecuted by Adrian, reckons Marcus's the fifth persecution.

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And learned moderns seem now to be fully convinced that Marcus was unfriendly to the Christians. Says Dr. Jortin: As to the emperor Marcus, with all his amiable and princely qualities, he did not love the Christians, as appears from unquestionable authority, even his

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