the Christians: for the two edicts were both alike. Nor can there be any good reason to believe, that Severus published any other edict against the Christians beside that mentioned by * Spartian.' So says that learned author, upon which I must make some free observations. First of all Mr. Mosheim seems to say, that Severus enacted not any new laws against the Christians.' Which is not the truth: for he did enact a new law against them. It is mentioned by Spartian; and Mr. Mosheim himself grants, and allows, and supposes it: and after his manner he explains the meaning and design of it. Secondly, Mr. Mosheim has no right to diminish the sufferings of the Christians in the reign of this emperor. He earnestly contends, that Tertullian's Apology was composed in the year of Christ 198, before there was any law of Severus against the Christians; and he has published a long dissertation to prove it. Nor was Mr. Tillemont' very averse to that date of the Apology; though he generally speaks of it as written in the year 200. And according to that later date, it was written before Severus had made any edict against the Christians. a d с Well, what was the state of the Christians at that time, even before the edict of Severus, which is allowed to be rightly dated at the year of Christ 202? They underwent,' our learned author says, a multiplicity of the greatest sufferings.' From that Apology of Tertullian it appears, that they were crucified, hung upon stakes, burnt alive, thrown to wild beasts, con 'demned to the mines, banished into desert islands.' I have put down no more than a part of the list of their sufferings, extracted by Mosheim himself from that Apology of Tertullian. And moreover, as that learned man likewise observes, the magistrates then transgressed the law of Trajan. They were not contented to punish those who were brought before them: they sought for them to be punished.' Such were the sufferings of the Christians then: And were they abated and restrained afterwards, when a new edict was published among them? No, certainly, they were increased. • Iff these things were done, whilst the emperor was as yet no enemy to them, and the ancient laws against them were in a manner silent, and those which were favourable to them, were yet in being what may we suppose to have been done when Severus was provoked, and not only confirmed the old laws against them, but added also severe laws of his own.' They are the words of Mosheim himself. For certain, the persecution then became more violent, and more general, than it had been before; as this learned writer himself acknowledgeth. Nevertheless, he will say something to mitigate the guilt of their enemies. For he says, that the Christians fomented the persecution against themselves by a custom, which now for 'some while had obtained among them, of redeeming their lives and safety by presents of money made to the presidents, or other magistrates.' Undoubtedly such things were done by some, but not by so many, nor so often, as is insinuated by Tertullian; who, when a Montanist, equally condemned flight in persecution, and a De Etate Apologetici Tertulliani, &c. Tertullien. art. v. at the beginning. • Hoc loco nihil mihi propositum est aliud, quam ut ante ann. cii quo Severi in Christianos edicta publice rogata esse concedo, infinitam jam malorum magnitudinem illis exhibitam esse, planum faciam. Diss. de Etate Apol. num. vii. d Perversissimi ergo judices non legibus obtemperabant, sed in manifestas leges vexandis Christianis peccabant. Suppliciorum atrocitas par erat odio, quo ferebantur Christianorum bostes. Apol. cap. xii. Crucibus et stipitibus imponitis 'Christianos-ungulis eraditis latera Christianorum• Cervices ponimusad bestias impellimur-ignibus urimurin metalla damnamur insula relegamur.' Eadem fere repetit cap. 30. Moshem, de Reb Christ. &c. 255. Ꮓ i mico, et antiquis in eos legibus quiescentibus quodammodo, et per alias clementiores quasi obliteratis. Quid factum fuisse putabimus, Severo exardescente, atque veteres non modo leges firmante, verum novas etiam severiores rogante? p. 255. Ibid. Hæc calamitas valde augebatur, quum tertio hujus seculi anno Imperator ipse animum erga Christianos, incertum quibus de causis, quodammodo mutaret, atque, proposito edicto, cives Romanos sub gravi poenâ ad Christianam religionem a majorum sacris transire vetaret. Ib. p. 455. Malis his, variis ex causis natis, ipsi sine dubio Christiani alimenta suppeditabant per consuetudinem, quæ ab aliquo tempore, approbantibus episcopis, inter eos invaluerat, salutem et vitam argento magistratibus oblato redimendi. Præsides enim et magistratus pecuniæ avidi Christianos sæpe invadebant, et pauperiorum quosdam necari jubebant, quo ditiores fortunis suis emungerent, et ecclesiarum thesauris rem suam locupletarent. Ibid. p. 453. Ultro igitur de hoc tibi suggeram, definiens persecutionem, quam constat non esse fugiendam, proinde nec redimendam. Pretium interest. Cæterum, sicut fuga redemptio gratuita est, ita redemptio nummaria fuga est. De Fuga in Pers. cap. 12. p. 697. Vid. cap. 10, et 11., pecuniary redemptions. Nor can there be any good reason, why this writer, in accounting for the sufferings of the Christians in this persecution, should forget, as it were, the common hatred and enmity of men toward them, and almost entirely ascribe all their afflictions to the avarice of governors, stimulated and allured by the forwardness of Christians themselves, to redeem their own, or their friends safety by pecuniary presents. b I do by no means think, that there was any other edict of Severus against the Christians, beside that mentioned by Spartian: but possibly he has not fully expressed the whole design of it. There was at the same time an edict published against the Jews: nevertheless, the edict against the Christians might be somewhat different. Whether it was, or not, it is manifest from Tertullian and Eusebius and other ecclesiastical writers, that after the tenth of Severus, there was a general persecution against the Christians, wherein many suffered. And though the edict was exactly as Spartian says, the publication of it would give occasion for heathens of all sorts, both common people and magistrates, to shew their enmity to the Christians; especially, as the rescript of Trajan was still in force. Nor need it be supposed, that they who were unfriendly to the Christians, would be scrupulously exact to the terms of the edict, and forbear to prosecute, or condemn any, beside new converts. It is certain they did not forbear others: for many who were born of Christian parents, or had been Christians by profession a good while before this edict of Severus, suffered martyrdom in this persecution. Trajan's rescript forbids searching for 'Christians: nevertheless, that part of his rescript was oftentimes transgressed or neglected by presidents, who published orders that they should be sought for. C Mr. Mosheim says, that the words of the edict of Severus, as represented by Spartian, shew, that Severus only intended to hinder the increase of the church, and ordered such to be punished, who forsook the old religion of their ancestors for the sake of the Christian. They, therefore, who were Christians by birth, or were such before the time of this edict, had nothing 'to fear from it.' But I very much suspect this observation to be of no moment: for all persecuting edicts may have been of this form. They may have been made so, to give them a more specious appearance, and to cover the real cruelty and malignity of them. The severest edicts of the worst persecutors may have been expressed in the same terms, and in the same form, with this of Severus. So says the emperor Maximin, one of that sort, at the beginning of his letter to Sabinus: It is well known to yourself, and to all the world, that our lords and fathers, Dio⚫clesian and Maximian, when they observed, that almost all men were forsaking the worship of the gods, and joining themselves to the sect of the Christians, did rightly ordain, that all who had forsaken the worship of their immortal gods, should be recalled to the worship of the gods, by public chastisement and punishment.' The letter of this law might affect new converts only, who had forsaken gentilism, and gone over to the Christians: but that cannot be supposed to be the spirit of the law, or the intention of the makers of it. Upon the whole, I can discern little weight in Mr. Mosheim's observations upon this edict of Severus and still think, that the common opinion of learned men concerning the persecution of Severus is very right. V. I have been longer here than I at first intended: and yet I have still one observation more to take notice of. Balduinus, in the place before cited, says: Papinian was præfect of a Oriente seculo multis in provinciis Romanis varie affligebatur res Christiana. Hæc vero calamitas crescebat, quum A. D. ciii. Imperator Severus, Christianis aljoquin haud inimicus, lege latâ prohiberet, ne quis majorum religionem cum Christiana aut etiam cum Judaïcâ commutaret. Ut enim hæc lex Christianos non damnaret, sed progressus tantum Christianæ religionis cohiberet, peropportunam tamen avaris et injustis præsidibus et magistratibus occasionem suppeditabat Christianos vexandi, et plurimos inopum necandi, quo ditiores ad periculum argento amovendum invitarent. Moshem. Instit. ut. Hist. Ecc. p. 101. Vid. supra not. h. b See Tillemont. Persécution sous Sévère art. iv. p. 159, 159. Bruxelles. See before. p. 105. 4 Και παρα τη ση σοβαροτητι και παρα πασιν ανθρωποις e φανερον είναι πεποιθα, τες δεσποίας ήμων Διοκλήλιανον και Μαξιμιανον τας ἡμετέρας πατερας, ἡνικα συνείδον σχεδόν απανίας ανθρωπος, παραλειφθεισης της των Θεών θρησκείας, τῷ είναι των Χρισιανων εαυίες συμμεμιχοΐας, ορθώς διατεταχέναι πανίας ανθρωπος τες από της των αυίων Θεων των αθαναίων θρησκείας αναχωρησανίας, προδηλῳ κολάσει και τιμωρία εις την θρησκειαν TWY Dεwv avanλya. Euseb. H. E. 1 ix. cap. 9. p 360. C. eCerte temporibus Severi proconsulem eum [Claudium Herminianum] fuisse, facile credo; quibus et Papinianus prætorio præfectus erat. Sed sæpe mirari cogor, Papinianum, qui veluti summus tunc erat Prætor, auctorem non fuisse, ut barbara illa feritas præsidum Christianos exagitantium aliquando reprimeretur; saltem ad aliquam judiciorum legem, rationem, ordinem, revocaretur. Balduin. de Edict. Princ. Roman. P. 99, 100. 6 the prætorium in this reign. And he says, he has often wondered, that Papinian did not take 'care to restrain the barbarous fierceness of the presidents, who treated the Christians with so much cruelty; or at least find out a method to reduce their judicial proceedings to some good order, and the common rules of equity.' We must therefore suppose, that either Papinian did not understand the principles of religious and civil liberty, or that he was not able to establish all the schemes of equity which he had formed in his mind. CHAP. XXIV. DIOGENES LAERTIUS. I. His time and work. II. The inscription of the altar to the Unknown God, in Acts xvii. 23, illustrated by a paragraph in this author. III. Whether he refers to the Christian eucharist. a I. DIOGENES, surnamed Laërtius, as is generally supposed from Laërtes his native place, a town or castle in Cilicia, who wrote of the lives and opinions of the most famous philosophers in ten books, flourished, as Vossius thinks, in the time of Antoninus the pious, or soon afterwards. Others have thought it more probable, that he lived under Severus and his successors, and that his book of the Lives of the Philosophers was written about the year 210; where also I shall place him. с II. Says St. Luke, Acts xvii. 16-23. "Now while Paul waited for Silas and Timothy at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and the devout persons [or proselytes] and in the market daily with them that met him. Then certain philosophers, of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? Others, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached to them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him to the Areopagus, saying: May we know, what this new doctrine is, whereof thou speakest? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know, therefore, what these things mean. (For all the Athenians, and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) Paul, therefore, standing up in the midst of the Areopagus, said: Ye men of Athens, I perceive, that ye are in all things very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom, therefore, ye worship without knowing him, Him do I declare unto you." After which follows the rest of the apostle's excellent discourse. d The introduction to this speech was distinctly considered formerly: and the propriety and decency of the Apostle's address to the Athenians were clearly shewn. e I now intend to consider the inscription, "To the Unknown God," of which he here reminds eThe Being and Attributes of God, appear to have been known to the philosophers and sages of antiquity: and that only seems to have been unknown to them, which is also 'unknown to us, namely, the mode of his existence: the some the Athenians, and upon which he argues so rationally. argues so rationally. For, if I mistake not, I have now an opportunity to illustrate this text by a paragraph of Diogenes in the Life of Epimenides: which, therefore, I shall here transcribe at length, and then explain. Epimenides is supposed to have been contemporary with Solon, and to have lived in the forty-sixth Olympiad, almost six hundred years before the nativity of our Saviour. And Laërtius has given us a letter of Epimenides sent to Solon.* Diogenes Laërtius, having related some strange things of Epimenides, goes on: At this 'time the fame of Epimenides was very great among all the Greeks, and he was supposed to be in great favour with the gods. The Athenians being afflicted with a pestilence, they were directed by the Pythian oracle to get their city purified by expiation. They therefore sent Nicias, son of Niceratus, in a ship to Crete, inviting Epimenides to come them. He coming thither in the forty-sixth Olympiad, purified their city, and delivered them from the pestilence in this manner. Taking several sheep, some black, others white, he had them up to the Areopagus; and then let them go where they would: and gave orders to those who followed them, wherever any one of them should lie down, to sacrifice it to the god to whom it belonged. And so the plague ceased. Hence it comes to pass, that to this present time may be 'found in the boroughs of the Athenians anonymous altars, a memorial of the expiation then 'made.' This paragraph, I think, will mightily illustrate the text above cited from the Acts: but before I make my observations, it may be not amiss to allege the observations of divers Christian interpreters, both ancient and modern. Jerom, in his comment upon the first chapter of Titus, ver. 12, says: The inscription of the altar at Athens was not " to the Unknown God," as St. Paul quotes it, but to the gods of Asia, and Europe, and Africa, unknown and strange gods.' He speaks to the like purpose in another place; and supposeth, that the apostle had not quoted the inscription exactly, but dex. terously applied it to his own purpose. e Chrysostom, in a homily upon the Acts of the apostles, speaks to this purpose: I found ⚫ an altar with this inscription," to the Unknown God." What is that! The Athenians, who in a long tract of time had received various gods from their neighbours, as the temple of Minerva, Pan, and others from elsewhere; apprehensive that there might be still some other god, un ' tended to destroy superstition, and subvert their power and 'influence, than to establish either. Their gods were local, their names and temples publicly known, and their priests strove who should gain the greatest number of profitable votaries. This altar then must surely have been erected by some philosopher, to the One True God, who was known by the effects of his infinite power, wisdom, and goodness: but unknown as to the mode of his existence. The one true God, (whom we now adore,) was neither known, nor worshipped by the ignorant, deceived, heathen multitude. Neither was he ignorantly worshipped by philosophers. For they might, and every one who exercises his reason in the inquiry, may, from the works of creation, trace out the Being and Attributes of God.' The Morality of the N. T. digested under various heads. p. 50-52. So says the anonymous Writer of the book just mentioned. I do not perceive, what is the mistake,' which is here imputed, or intended to be imputed to St. Paul. Nor indeed am I able to understand, or make out a consistent sense in the rest which is here said. However, it may be all clear to some, and important likewise. I therefore thought it not improper, that these observations should lie before my readers, in a note at least, that such use may be made of them, as is judged to be reasonable. οἱ βόλοιντο, προςαξας τοις ακολεθοις, ενθα αν κατακλινοι αυτών έκασον, θύειν τῷ προσήκοντι Θεῳ· και ενω λήξαι το κακον. Όθεν ετι και νυν εσιν εὑρειν κατα τες δημος των Αθηναίων βώμες ανώνυμες, υπομνημα της τότε γενομενης εξιλάσεως. Diog. Laërt. in Epimenide. 1. i. segm. 110. p. 70, 71. Nec mirum, si, pro opportunitate temporis, gentilium poëtarum versibus abutatur; quum etiam de inscriptione aræ aliqua commutans, ad Athenienses loquutus sit: Pertransiens enim,' inquit, et contemplans culturas vestras, inveni et aram, in quâ superscriptum est: Ignoto Deo. Quod ergo ignorantes colitis, hoc ego annuntio vobis.' Inscriptio autem aræ non ita erat, ut Paulus asseruit, Ignoto Deo," sed ita; 'Diis Asia, et Europæ, et Africa, diis ignotis et peregrinis. Verum, quia Paulus non diis indigebat ignotis, sed uno tantum ignoto Deo, singulari verbo usus est. &c. In ep. ad Titum. cap. i. T. iv. P. i. p. 420. d Ac, ne parum hoc esset, ductor Christiani exercitûs, et orator invictus pro Christo causam agens, etiam inscriptionem fortuitam arte torquet in argumentum fidei. Didicerat enim a vero David extorquere de manibus hostium, et Goliæ superbissimi caput proprio mucrone truncare. Ad magnum. ep. 83. T. iv. P. ii. p. 655. с εύρον και βωμον, εν ᾧ επείεΓραπίο, Λίνωσῳ Θεῳ. Τι ἔσι τείο ; οἱ Αθηναιοι, επειδαν καλα καιρες πολλές εδέξαντο θεος και απο της υπερορίας, οίον, το της Αθήνας ἱερον, τον Πανα, και άλλες αλλαχόθεν, δεδοικοῖες, μηποτε και άλλος τις η αυτοις μεν εδέπω γνώριμος, θεραπευόμενος δε αλλαχε, ύπερ πλειονος δήθεν ασφάλειας, και τελῳ βώμον έζησαν. Και επειδή εκ ην δήλος ὁ Θεός, επείεΓραπίο, Λίνωσῳ Θεῳ. Τελον εν Χρισον Ιησεν ειναι Παύλος λεΓει· μαλλον δε των πανίων Θεον, Ὃν εν αίνονlες, φησιν, ευσεβειλε, τείον εξω καλα/γελλω υμιν. In Act. Apost. hom. 38. T. ix. p. 287. A. Bened. known to them, who was worshipped elsewhere in other places, for the greater safety erected also an altar to him. But because the God was not manifest, they put upon it this inscription, "To the Unknown God." This God, Paul says, is Jesus Christ, or rather the Ged of the universe. "Whom therefore you ignorantly worship," says he, "him declare I ' unto you." So speaks Chrysostom: nor do I perceive him to have had any doubt about the genuineness of the inscription, as composed in the singular number, "To the Unknown God." 3 b Nevertheless Theophylact and Oecumenius after saying the same that is in Chrysostom, add that the whole of the inscription was to this purpose: To the gods of Asia, and Europe, and Libyia, to the unknown and strange God.' d Isidore of Pelusium has a letter upon this subject, which begins in this manner. There' 'were, as is said, two causes of the inscription of the altar at Athens, "To the Unknown God." And having taken notice of the second occasion, which was a pestilence, he says, that after their deliverance the Athenians erected a temple and altar, with this inscription, "To the Unknown God." Nor do I perceive that there is, throughout that letter, any the least intimation, that there was at Athens any altar inscribed "to unknown gods" in the plural number. There is, therefore, great inaccuracy in the quotation of Isidore of Pelusium, which is in Mr. Wetstein's New Testament. For there he is quoted as saying, that the whole inscription • of the altar, was, To the gods of Asia, Europe, and Libya, the unknown and strange God.' Which, indeed, is very agreeable to Theophylact and Oecumenius, as just seen: but Isidore says nothing of that kind. We have seen therefore two ancient Christian writers, Chrysostom and Isidore of Pelusium, in the fourth, or the beginning of the fifth century, who supposed, that the inscription at Athens was in the singular number, as St. Paul quotes it. The opinions of learned moderns have been different. Many maintain the genuineness of the inscription, as cited by St. Paul. But Le Clerc says, that though the inscription was in the plural number, St. Paul was in the right to allege it in the singular number. h In the year 1724 was published at Cambridge a Latin sermon upon this subject. I read it when it came out: but I know not now where to find it. I remember well, that it is a very learned and elaborate discourse: and I made some extracts which are still by me; but they are defective and imperfect. However, I perceive by them, that the author Dr. Drake asserted the inscription to have been in the singular number; though my extracts are not particular enough, to shew how he made it out. But I know, that he argued from the place of Oecumenius above quoted by me, and likewise from the dialogue Philopatris, which I also shall quote by and by. Having seen the judgment of learned Christians, ancient and modern, I here intend to propose my own observations. Diogenes Laërtius informs us, that the Athenians, by the direction of an oracle, sent for Epimenides to purify, or expiate their city, when they were afflicted with a pestilence: Epimenides, when he came to Athens, took several sheep, some black, some white, and then let them go where they would, directing those who followed them, when any one should lie down, to sacrifice it to the God to whom it belonged: which in the Latin version is rendered, to the god next the place.' Which translation, as I perceive by my extracts, is disliked by Dr. Drake. He therefore translates in this manner: to the proper god, to whom that affair belonged, to a Theoph. in Act. Ap. p. 151. • Εσι δε πασα το βωμό επιγραφη τοιαύτη Θεοις Ασίας, και Ευρώπης, και Λιβυης• Θεῳ αίνωσῳ και ξενῳ. Oecum. in Act. Ap. p. 137. - Δυο φασιν αιλιας είναι, το επιδεΓραφθαι Αθήνησι τῳ βωμῳ. Αίνως . Θεω. κ. λ. Ibid. l. iv. ep. 69. αναν δειμαμενοι και βωμον, επιγραψανίες, Αίνωσῳ Θεμ. Ibid. • Isidorus iv. 69. Ἡ πασα τε βωμο επιγραφή, Θεοις Ασίας, και Ευρώπης, και Λιβύης, Θεῳ αίνωσῳ και ξενῳ. Wetsten. in Act. Ap. cap. xvii 23. f Quamvis plurali numero legeretur inscriptio, Alvesos Ozols, recte de Deo Ignoto' locutus est Paulus, quia plurali numero continetur singularis. Cleric. H. E. A. 52. p. 374. in notis. k Ara Ignoto Deo sacra:' ad Clerum habita Cantabrigie vii. Idus Julii 1724, pro gradu Doctoratûs in sacrâ Theologia. Auctore Samuele Drake. S. T. P. Collegii Divi Johannis Evangelista Socio-Cantab. 1724. "Fatendum tamen est, plures fuisse olim Deos, quorum opem auxiliumque anonymis aris invocabantHanc autem, de qua speciatim egit Apostolus, inscriptionem singulari fuisse numero prolatam confirmat ipsius Pauli fides, industria, non sequioris ætatis testimonio, non Hieronymi conjecturæ posthabenda. Drake ubi supra. p. 5. In Excerptis nostris. His qui illas sequebantur, ubicumque illæ accubuissent, singulas mactarent loci ejus proximo Deo. Hujus [Epimenidis] consilio monitos tradit Athenienses, cum patrios deos frustra fatigârint, sacra ut facerent, aramque construerent wрogynoxit : non, ut male Laërtii n |