such a people; and that they were a deluded and contemptible people, who deserved all that they suffered, for their obstinacy. The very name of Christian was then odious and reproachful; and when, in succeeding ages it became general and fashionable, other disgraceful epithets were substituted to stigmatize the faithful servants of God, and to point them out to the scorn or rage of the world.

II. Multitudes, who had been willing to be thought Christians in a time of peace, renounced their profession when they could no longer maintain it without the hazard of their lives. The terms of safety were, to invocate the gods, to offer wine and incense to the statue of the emperor, and to blaspheme Christ, which Pliny was rightly informed, no true Christian could be prevailed on to comply with: yet, in fact, when the persecution was sharp, so many yielded, that the cause seemed visibly to decline. The temples, which had been almost forsaken, were again frequented, the solemnities revived, and the demand for victims greatly increased. It is plain, therefore, that there were, even in those primitive times, many superficial Christians, destitute of that faith and love which are necessary to perseverance in the face of dangers and death. Of course it is no new thing for men to desert the profession of the truth, to which they have formerly appeared to be attached; through the fear of man, or the love of the world. These are the stony-ground hearers; and our Lord has assured us, that such would be found, wherever his Gospel should be preached. But there were others, who, having experienced this Gospel to be the power of God unto salvation, were faithful witnesses, and could neither be intimidated nor flattered into a compliance with evil. It is the same at this day: for though we are mercifully exempted from the terror of penal laws, yet the temptations arising from worldly interest, and the prevalence and force of evil customs, will sooner or later be too hard for all professors who have not received that faith which is of the operation of God, which, by communicating a sense of the constraining love of Christ, is alone able to purify the heart from selfish and sinful principles, and to overcome the world with all its allurements and threatenings.

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III. We have, in this epistle, an honorable testimony to the conduct and practice of the Christians in Pliny's time. Though the information of enemies and apostates was admitted, and even sought for, and those who were inclined to speak in their favour were put to the torture, we see, that in the declaration of a heathen, nothing is laid to their charge which was in any degree deserving of just blame. Though their meetings were accounted an offence against the state, they are acquited of any criminal transactions. On the contrary, it is said, that they bound themselves by the strictest obligations against the commission of immorality, and to the faithful discharge of relative duties. An engagement of this kind, amongst any other people, Pliny would have approved and admired. But the nature of their religious worship, which he censures as a dangerous and immoderate superstition, he thought sufficiently criminal in itself, notwithstanding its influence upon their conduct was confessedly commendable. To such inconsistencies are the wisest men reduced, who discover the least degree of candour in their opposition to the people of Christ. While they ignorantly condemn their principles, they are compelled to bear witness in favour of their general deportment which is formed upon those principles, and which, experience shows, no other principles can uniformly produce. It is true, the Christians were often indiscriminately charged with the greatest immoralities, but not by persons of reputation and judgment like Pliny, who were careful to inquire into the truth of what they related. At present, we who know what foul aspersions are propagated against the despised professors of the Gospel, do not think it necessary to attempt a formal refutation of them; because as we fear the authors of such slanders are incorrigible, so we are persuaded with regard to others, that there are very few persons (however they may mistake our sentiments) so ignorant or credulous, as seriously to think them worthy of credit.

IV. The object of divine worship, in their assem. blies, was the Lord Jesus Christ. On a stated day, that is, on the day which upon this account has, from the apostle's time, been styled the Lord's day, they met early in the morning to sing hymns to his praise: not in commemoration of a mortal benefactor or law. giver, but as to God; acknowledging, by this practice, their firm persuasion of that great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, and that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. That they met before it was light, was most probably to avoid the notice and fury of their persecutors. The enemies of Christ may put those who know and love him to many difficulties and inconveniences; but they cannot wholly prevent them from assembling in his name, unless they confine them in prisons or chains. The reason is, they honor him as God, and are assured that he is present where two or three are met in his name, at all times and in all places. Their dependence for support, direction, and deliverance, is entirely upon him; and when they worship him according to his will, he manifests himself unto them as he does not unto the world. This they believe, experience, and profess: and the hardships they will submit to, rather than be deprived of such opportunities, is a proof that they are not disappointed in their expectations from him; especially if it be considered, that there have been few been in which a succession of his people have not ages pressed with the like trials for adhering to him. But no power of policy could ever effectually prevent associations to honor and serve him, amongst those who were fully persuaded that he is their God and their Saviour. Bishop Bonner (in queen Mary's reign), who was better versed in the arts of persecution than in the history of the church, mistook these Christians, whom Pliny describes, for heretics, and charged Philpot with being altogether like them; a charge which the good man received as a great, though an undesigned honor.

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V. The severity with which the persecution was carried on under Trajan, appears from the doubt pro. posed by Pliny, whether he was at liberty to make any allowance in particular cases, or must punish all alike who were guilty of bearing the Christian name, without paying the least regard to sex, age, rank, or circumstance. Though desirous to show lenity, he did not think himself authorized to reject the most invidious or private accusations; nor even to accept of a recantation, without the emperor's express warrant. is plain that he considered the mitigations he proposed, as a diviation from the ordinary course of proceeding against them. History scarcely affords an instance of such undistinguishing rage exerted against any people, upon any occasion, except against those who have been punished for righteousness' sake, though they indeed have often been exposed to similar treatment both from heathens and professed Christians. In cases of sedition, or even rebellion against civil government, though many perhaps suffer, the greater number usually obtain mercy. The devouring sword of war seldom preys upon the defenceless, upon tender youth, or hoary age,

or women.

Some bounds are set by the feelings of humanity to the carnage of a field of battle: but when the native enmity of the heart, against those of whom the world is not worthy, is permitted to act without restraint, it acknowledges no distinctions, it feels no compassion, but, like the insatiable fire, consumes whatever it can reach. If there be some exceptions, a few persons of gentle natural dispositions, who are unwilling to shed blood, and rather express their dislike by a contemptuous pity, this is chiefly to be ascribed to the power of God over the heart of man; and he sometimes makes use of these to check the violence of the others. Such a one was Pliny; he had no esteem for the Christians, he despised them as deluded enthusiasts, and he was angry with them for what he deemed their obstinacy: yet the greatness of their sufferings, and the number of the sufferers, gave him some concern, and made him interpose in their favour, so far as to prevent them from being industriously sought out, or punished without witnesses or proof.

VI. The chief or only crime of the Christians, in the judgment of Pliny, was, their steadiness in maintaining a cause which the emperor did not approve, and 'continuing their assemblies after they had been prohibited by his edict: for this audacity and presumption he supposed them deserving of the heaviest punishment, however blameless in other respects. It must be allowed, that, as the edicts of the Roman emperors had at that time the force of law, the profession of Christianity, when forbidden by those edicts, was illegal, and if the penalties they suffered were prescribed by the edict, and they were tried and condemned under the same forms as were usually observed in other criminal processes, they suffered according to law. Thus it ap. peared to Pliny; and though, in his private capacity,