Christianity a Doctrine of the Cross, Doctrine · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. The Christians Passive Obedience, under these Invaders of Legal Rights.
SUch, as we have seen, were the Civil Rights, and such was the invasion of them, and violation of Laws, practised upon the Primitive Christians, in the first Persecutions. Which I have been thus large upon, in the preceding Chapters, thinking nothing can serve more to clear up this Point, and shew what sort of Obedience and Non-Resistance that was, which the Apostles so strictly injoyned, and the Christians so Conscientiously paid, to the Powers of the Empire in the first Ages.
For what now said the Holy Bishops, and Fathers to their Flocks, in Point of Passive Obedience or Non-Resistance, to these illegal Oppressors, and Invaders of Civil Rights and Immunities? The forementioned Precepts of Christ and his Apostles, they make their Rules, esteeming them, as all Christians ought to do, for Catholick Precepts, given to guide Christians of every time and place, and that ought to bind up their own hands, in those hard and trying Days; as, in foregoing times, they had bound up the hands of their Predecessors. When persecuted under one, so far were they, in hopes of ease or quietness thereby, from setting up, or turning over to another, that, as†Christianus non novit, de novo Caesare optare. Apol. c. 35▪ Tertullian declares, they did not swerve from him so much as by a secret Prayer, or wish for a new Caesar.
Many had been the defections from the Emperors, and the aspiring spirits, who had affected the Purple, and set up themselves against them in all parts of the Empire, to try the Christians Loyalty and adherence to their Rightful Princes, yea, to those, that either already had been, or afterwards proved, their bloody Persecutors. Such was L. Antonius, who, as †In Pescen. Nig. pag. 218. 3. Part. Hist. Aug. Script. vid. Suet. in Domit. c. 6.10.Spartianus says, was declared Emperor by the Army against Domitian, who was the Author of the Second Persecution: whom Parthenius, and Sigerius, and their complices, afterwards murdered; having first agreed with Nerva, as ‖In Domitiano.Dio Xyphilinus reports, to take the Empire upon him. Such also were those many, whom the Emperor Marcus Antoninus †In his Letter, ap. Vulcatium in Avid. Cassio, pag. 120, 121, 123. 3. Part. Hist. Aug. Script.speaks of, that had Rebelled, and set up against the Emperors, Trajan, and Hadrian, and his Father Pius: under whom were the Third and Fourth Persecutions. And likewise that against Marcus himself, under whom was the Fifth Persecution of the Christians, by Avidius Cassius, on ‖Vid. Vulcat. Gallic. in Avid. Cass. p. 127.pretence of Marcus's remisness, and neglect of the Publick, and the Luxuriousness and Repaciousness of his Ministers; all which, as Cassius alledged, endangered the Common-Wealth. Such also was the Affectation of Empire, and setting up for Emperors in Fact, of Pescenninus Niger in Syria, and of Clodius Albinus in Gaul, against the Emperor Severus, in whose time Tertullian writ his Apologetick, upon the setting on the Sixth Persecution. And afterwards, that of †Vid. Vopifc. in Bonoso, p. 721. pt. 3. Hist. Aug. Script & in Probo ib p. 698.699.Bonosus, as also of Proculus, and Saturninus, against the Emperor Probus. And after that again, the Defections of Achilleus in Egypt, and of Carausius in Brittain, ‖Lib. 9.as Eutropius relates, who set up against Dioclesian before; as others did, says †Lib. 8. c. 6. Hist. Eccl.Eusebius, some in Armenia, others in Syria, after his setting on of the Tenth Persecution.
Yet, under all these attempts for Change, even when the Right Emperors were most unjustly oppressive, and illegally hard upon them, as has been abundantly shewn; the Christians never run in among those that took up Arms, or swerved from their Duty and Allegiance. They still adhered to the Right, even when they suffered most by it; and never turned, in hopes of ease thereby, to the wrong side. Which they did so constantly, in all places of the Empire, under all these Insurrections, and Oppositions of Powers; that the Christian Advocates and Apologists, could challenge all their industrious Enemies and Accusers, to shew wherein they had ever been Seditious, or sided with a Rebellious and Wrong Power against the Right, in any instance.
†Unde Cassii, & Nigri, & Albini? Unde qui inter duas Laurus obsident Caesarem? De Romanis (nisi fallor) id est De non Christianis. Apol. c. 35. — Nunquam Albiniani, nec Nigriani, vel Cassiani, inveniri potuerunt Christiani: ad Scap. c. 2.Whence came they, says Tertullian, that in his Country Recess laid wait for Caesar, viz. with Parthenius and Sigerius, who Conspired against Domitian? Whence were the Adherents of Cassius, and Niger, and Albinus? Were they not all from among your selves, Heathen Romans, but no Christians? These two last Insurrections, under Niger, and Albinus, were fresh at the time of his Writing, and a strict inquisition had been made after all the Partners, that abetted, or adhered to them. ‖Sed & qui nunc Scelestarum Partium Socii aut Plausores, quotidie revelantur, post vindimiam Paricidarum racematio superstes. id Apol. c. 35.Even at this time, says he, there is still an inquisition going on to discover them; like a Gleaning of Grapes, after the great clusters were gone. And yet, so clear were the Christians from any share therein, that he challenges the Heathen Priests, after all this search for those that followed and sided with these Usurpers against their Lawful Prince, out of any of their Records, to produce one Christian among them. After this, Origen †foreign. Contra Cellum, lib. 3. pag. 115.tells Celsus, when he objected a Seditious Rise to the Christians, that neither he, nor any of his Party, would ever be able to produce any Work of Sedition, that had ever been acted by any Christians. Soon after this, S. Cyprian in like manner tells Demetrian, how Passive they were under the most bitter Persecutions, not standing up by Force to Right themselves, but referring it to God, as a most just Judge, to Right their Cause. For thence it is, †Quos laesos [Persecutionibus] ultio divina defendit. Inde est- enim, quod nemo nostrum, quando apprehenditur, reluctatur: nec se adversus injustam violentiam vestram, quamvis nimius & copiosus noster sit populus, ulciscitur. Ad Demet. p. 192. Ed. Oxon.saith he, that when we are apprehended, and suffer the most unjust Violence, we make no armed Resistance, tho we have Numbers more than enough for that purpose. The City of Christ, ‖Neque tunc civitas Christi, quamvis adhuc peregrinaretur in Terris, & haberet tam magnorum agmina Populorum, adversus impios Persecutores, pro temporali salute pugnavit; sed potius, ut obtineret aeternam non repugnavit. Ligabantur, includebantur, caedebantur, torquebantur, urebantur, laniabantur, trucidabantur, & multiplicabantur. Non erat eis pro salute pugnare, nisi salutem pro Salvatore contemnere. Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 6.says S. Austin, speaking of their numerous and costly Confessions, and how they carried themselves under all the foregoing Persecutions) when as yet it only sojourn'd in the Earth, and could have set out such Troops of great Nations against the impious Persecutions, did not fight for their Temporalities; but rather, that they might obtain eternal, they suffer'd all without Resistance. They were bound, imprison'd, beaten, tortured, burnt, torn in pieces, slain, and multiplied notwithstanding. But amidst all this, they would not take Arms to defend themselves in these Temporals, but contemn'd things temporal, in regard to their Saviour, and to secure eternal. Nay, lastly, even Julian himself, their most industrious and spiteful Accuser, gives this Testimony to them, that instead of siding with any, that were going to make Insurrection, they were for suppressing them. ‡foreign. Fragment. Epist. Jul. Imp. operum p. 528.If they see any mutinying, or moving Tumults against the King, they presently punish him severely.
Such were the Principles of Patience and Non-resistance, which the Christian Doctors taught, and the People practised, during all the Primitive Persecutions, when they suffer'd, as the most cruel and barbarous, so the most illegal things. And therefore, upon the Conspiracy of Magne…tius, a Christian General, against the Emperor Constans: Here first, alas! the Christian Captains, *Hic primum (prob dolor) dira perciti regnandi Libidine, Christiani Duces in Christianum conspirant Imperatorem, cum olim ne Gregarius quidem Miles (teste Tertulliano) inveniri posset, qui adversiis Imperatores, licet ethnicos, & Christianorum quo que Persecutores, à Partibus aliquando steterit insurgentium Tyranno…um. Annal. Baron. ad. an. 350.says Baronius, spurr'd on by a lust of Government, conspire against a Christian Emperor, when in former times, not so much as a common Soldier, as Tertullian testifies, could ever be found to side with any Upstarts or Usurpers against the lawful Emperors, th… they were Heathens, and cruel Persecutors of the Christians.
Indeed, I think no Times have afforded better pleas for Resistance, than those under the Primitive Persecutions. Which yet were so eminent for Passive Obedience, or Faith and Patience, without taking Arms against their Governors to defend themselves. For,
Under Dioclesian, and his Partner Maximian, but especially under Galerius, there were the greatest Rapes committed upon Property, and the most Insupportable Taxes raised by the most illegal ways; inquiring illegally by Torture into Estates, for the heightning of Payments. Nay, putting Servants to the Question against their Lords, contrary to the Law, which forbids Servants to be tortured against their Masters. Yea, torturing even Children to confess against their Parents, and Wives against their Husbands, as †De Mor…. Persec. c. 7.8.23.Lactantius relates. Here was another sort of Invasion of Property, than that so much insisted on in the great Rebellion, viz. of enforced Loans, Privy Seals, and Ship-money. And if Invasion of Properties can discharge Allegiance, the Christians were at Liberty, and might have taken Arms in those days.
There was also a Denial of Law, and of the course of Justice, unless they would purchase it by unlawful Worship and Sacrifices. For Heathen Altars, as the ‖ib. c. 15.same Author notes, were erected before tho Tribunals, that the Litigants might first sacrifice, before they could bring on their Cause. An ‡ib. c. 13.Edict also had order'd, that against them, any one might bring an Action: but that they, on any injury, should not be allow'd to bring any, as I observ'd before. This was a Denial of Protection. And if Subjects are under no obligation to Allegiance, where they are denied Protection; yea, or even where they miss of it against their Rulers Wills, through their incapacity for the present to afford it; according to some present Casuists way of stating this Question: Why might not the Christians, have thought themselves discharged, from paying any thing to these Emperors?
There was nothing of Law, but arbitrariness in all their Courts, where Galerius, as I noted above,*ib. c. 22. dissolving all the Laws, assumed and gave a License of all things to his Judges. And if men, that have Laws and Birth-rights, may rise up for their Laws and Liberties, against Governors, who will invade both, and be arbitrary and illegal in their Administrations: how could the Christians stand obliged, to be quiet and passive, in this very case?
There was a murdering men for poverty, the same Galerius, in the illegal course of raising his insupportable Tax, †ib. c. 23.commanding all the Beggars, who were unable to pay any thing towards it, to be gathered together; and then, to deter any from pleading Poverty, being exported in Ships, to be drown'd in the Sea. This is not only against all Humane and Divine Laws, but is such a degree of madness, as methinks, might much better pass for a proof of one not mentis compos, or besides himself, than the K. of Portugals bloody Acts and Barbarities, which of late have been made use of by several in this Dispute. And if no Allegiance is due, in case of Frenzy, or moral incapacity, appearing, not in the ordinary Crazedness and inconsistence of a mans Carriage, but only by such Actions; and there too, from the extravagance of unjust Cruelty, or furious Passion in those Acts, not from any whimsical Silliness and Ridiculousness of the Reasons and Pretences for them: there would not, in my Opinion, have been much due to him. Nor to Valens, who, like a frantick man, did the same, as I noted, to no less than eighty Clergy-men, who were sent by their suffering Brethren humbly to petition him. Nor to Nero, who for his sport, and the more lively humoring of a Song, viz. the taking of Troy, which, as ‖In Ner. c. 38.Suetonius relates, he joyfully sung over it in his scenical habit at that time, set the City of Rome it self all in a flame.
There was a Subversion of the Roman Constitution, as I hinted before; Galerius turning the State of Subjects, into that of Slaves or Captives, with whom he might take any Liberties, and use what Violence he pleased. He alter'd, as the *Lact. ib. c. 21.Romans complained, their Form, which was Potentia Civilis, as Tertullian says, a Power legal and politick; into one that was Arbitrary and Despotick: affecting to rule like the Persian Kings, who treated their Subjects, †ib.says Lactantius, tanquam familia, merely at Discretion, and in a despotick way. Here, as some would have told them, was a legal Government laid aside, and an illegal set up instead thereof. And if there is no Allegiance due to a lawful Governor, when he lays aside the Laws, and breaks in upon the Constitution it self, such an one being no longer the Governor their Law and Constitution owns: the Christians might have been free in Conscience to look to themselves, and to stand up with others for their common Defence, against all his barbarous and illegal Usage.
I will add but one Plea more. There was a treating of the Romans, and other Subjects of the Empire, more like Enemies than Subjects. Thus, Lactantius ‖ib. c. 23.complains of Galerius, that he treated them after the same manner, as he would have done to any others, by the Right of War: using these Free-born Subjects, as their Ancestors were wont to use their Captives. Yea, at his first coming to the Empire, as *c. 27.he observes, he professed himself an Enemy of the Roman Name, and would have changed the Title, so as to be styled, not the Roman, but the Dacian Emperor. Thus also under Dioclesian, Eusebius †foreign. Euf Hist. l 8. c. 10. p. 304.says that the Martyrs were oppugn'd, not by common may and form of Law, as Subjects, but by Right of War, as if they had been publick Enemies. Licence was given, as Phileas the Martyr reports, ‖ib. ap. Euseb.… his Epistle sent from Prison to his Church, to any one that would, to abuse them; which some did beating them with Clubs, some with Rods, some with Whips. The President telling them, to have no care or regard at all, what they did to them, but to look upon them, and use them, as if they were not men. Thus likewise Maxentius, upon a very light and small Pretence, as ‡Hist. l.8. c. 14.Eusebius tells us, set the Guards one day to fall upon the Roman People, to cut them off, as they would an Enemy, in heat of Battel. And so slew an innumerable multitude of Romans, not in fighting against foreign Foes, by the Arms of Scythians and Barbarians, but by the hands of their own Citizens, and in the midst of the City it self. Here, would some have been apt to suggest, instead of an Head and Governor, did each of these bloody and persecuting Emperors, put on the person of an Enemy of his people. As Nero also would have been thought by them, when he designedly, and *S…et. Ner. c. 38.but too openly, as may be seen in Suetonius, set fire to the City, which was as much, as the conquering Gauls did, or would have been done on the irruption of any foreign Foe. And if no Allegiance is due to a Prince, when, not by open Professions, but only by the mischievousness of his Counsels or Actions, he may be interpreted to turn Enemy of his People: the Christians under these, and many other Monsters of Blood and Cruelty, might in Conscience have been at much more liberty, than ever they believed themselves to be.
Thus, had they lived in those days, might the modern Casuists and Advocates for Resistance, have urged all the Pleas, of Invasion of Liberties and Properties; of ceasing of Protection, from unjust Powers; of breach of Laws, and alteration of very Forms and fundamental Constitutions; of Rulers ceasing to be mentis compotes, or falling under mental or moral Incapacities, or their turning publick Enemies, and the like; against the now exploded Doctrine, of Faith, and Patience, and Non-resistance, under the fiery tryal of the primitive Persecutions. But those blessed Martyrs and Confessors, had not so learned Christ. These illegal Invaders of Rights, and bloody Persecutors of Religion, they still own'd and suffer'd, as Gods Vicegerents. And, as our Lord himself, and his blessed Apostles taught, and practised: so these their true Followers took care, even in such Violators of Rights, never to resist the Ordinance of God, which by S. Paul has Damnation annex'd to it; but to submit to them, not only for wrath, but also for Conscience sake. They stuck to the Faith, and Laws of Christ, with Courage and Resoluteness; and bore, and broke all the unjust violence of the persecuting Powers, with Patience; and never countenanced, or joyn'd, in any of the numerous Insurrections made against them, tho they had so much Temptation to it for their own fleshly ease, as appears from Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, &c. in the forecited Testimonies. And the like will be done by all others, who are for trusting their Souls with theirs, and think them safer in those primitive and first taught ways, than in any of the so much fancied and magnified new Inventions.