proving to the world that a new revelation had been given
from heaven. What, then, would be the effect produced upon
the minds of the great body of Christians by their gradual
cessation ? Many would not observe, none would be willing
to observe it ; for all must naturally feel a reluctance to believe
that powers, which had contributed so essentially to the rapid
diffusion of Christianity, were withdrawn. They, who remarked
the cessation of miracles would probably succeed in persuading
themselves that it was only temporary, and designed by an
all-wise Providence to be the prelude to a more abundant
effusion of supernatural gifts upon the Church. Or if doubts
and misgivings crossed their minds, they would still be un-

1 Chap. xv. p. 477, ed. 410. We have given only the purport of Gibbon's
observations.



50 The Ecclesiastical History of the

willing openly to state a fact, which might shake the steadfast-
ness of the friends, and would certainly be urged by the enemies
of the gospel as an argument against its divine origin. They
would pursue the plan which has been pursued by Justin
Martyr, Theophilus, Irenasus, etc. ; they would have recourse to
general assertions of the existence of supernatural powers, with-
out attempting to produce a specific instance of their exercise.
The silence of ecclesiastical history respecting the cessation
of miraculous gifts in the Church is to be ascribed, not to the
insensibility of Christians to that important event, but to the
combined operation of prejudice and policy of prejudice which
made them reluctant to believe, of policy which made them
anxious to conceal the truth.

Let me repeat that I offer these observations with that diffidence
in my own conclusions which ought to be the predominant feeling
in the mind of every inquirer into the ways of Providence. I
collect from passages already cited from the book of Acts, that
the power of working miracles was conferred by the hands of the
apostles only ; and consequently ceased with the last disciple on
whom their hands were laid. I perceive in the language of the
Fathers, 1 who lived in the middle and end of the second century,
when speaking on this subject, something which betrays, if not a
conviction, at least a suspicion, that the power of working miracles
was withdrawn, combined with an anxiety to keep up a belief of
its continuance in the Church. They affirm in general terms
that miracles were performed, but rarely venture to produce an

1 In confirmation of this remark, I refer the reader to the following passages of
Tertullian's works. In the tract de Pudicitid he is contending that the Church
possesses not the power of pardoning certain offences ; but foreseeing that the
example of the apostles, who had pardoned those offences, might be objected to
him, he thus anticipates the objection : " Itaque si et ipsos beatos Apostolos tale
aliquid indulsisse constaret, cujus venia a Deo, non ab homine, competeret, non
ex disciplina, sed ex potestate fecisse." The meaning is, that the apostles
pardoned those offences, not in the ordinary course of church discipline, but by a
peculiar power vested in themselves. " Nam et mortuos suscitaverunt, quod Deus
solus : et debiles redintegraverunt, quod nemo nisi Christus : immo et plagas
inflixerunt, quod noluit Christus ; non enim decebat eum saevire qui pati venerat.
Percussus est Ananias et Elymas, Ananias morte, Elymas caecitate, ut hoc ipso
probaretur Christum et hnec facere potuisse. Sic et prophetce caedem et cum ea
mcechiam pcenitentibus ignoverant, quia et severitatis documenta fecerunt. Exhibe
igitur et nunc mihi, apostolice, prophetica (f. legendum Appstolica et Prophetica)
exempla, et (f. ut) agnoscam divinitatem, et vindica tibi delictorum ejusmodi
remittendorum potestatem. Quod si disciplina^ solius officia sortitus es, nee
imperio prsesidere, sed ministerio, quis aut quantus es indulgere? qui neque
Prophetam, nee Apostolum exhibens, cares ea virtute cujus est indulgere," c. 21.
It is evident that the whole argument proceeds on the supposition that the
miraculous powers which had been exerted by the prophets and apostles no longer



Second and Third Centuries. 5 1

instance of a particular miracle. Those who followed them were
less scrupulous, and proceeded to invent miracles ; very different
indeed in circumstances and character from the miracles of the
gospel, yet readily believed by men who were not disposed nicely
to examine into the evidence of facts which they wished to be
true. The success of the first attempts naturally encouraged
others to practise similar impositions upon the credulity of man-
kind. In every succeeding age miracles multiplied in number,
and increased in extravagance, till at length, by their frequency,
they lost all title to the name, since they could no longer be
considered as deviations from the ordinary course of nature. 1

But to return to Tertullian. The only specific instances which
he mentions of the exercise of supernatural powers relate to the
exorcism of demons. He is contending in the Apology r2 that
the gods of the heathen are no other than demons ; of which
assertion he offers the following proof : " Bring," he says, " before
your tribunals a man possessed with a demon : the evil spirit, if
commanded by a Christian, will speak and confess himself a
demon. In like manner, produce a person supposed to be
inspired by one of your deities : he, too, will not dare to give a
false reply to a Christian, but will confess that his inspiration
proceeds from a demon." In the tract de Spectaculis 3 we find
a story of a female who went to the theatre, and returned
possessed by a demon. The unclean spirit, when asked by the
exorcist how he dared to assault a Christian, replied, "I was
justified in so doing, for I found her on my own ground." 4

. subsisted ; since, if they did subsist, the individual possessing them might
exercise the apostolic or prophetic privilege of pardoning the offences in question.
Again, in c. 22 : " Sic enim Dominus potestatem suam ostendit : ' quid cogitatis
nequam in cordibus vestris? Quid enim facilius est dicere Paralytico, Dimittuntur
tibi peccata, aut surge et ambula? Igitur ut sciatis filium hominis habere
dimittendoram peccatorum in terra potestatem, tibi dico, Paralytice, surge et
ambula' " (Matt. ix.). " Si Dominus tantum de potestatis suas probatione curavit,
ut traduceret cogitatus et ita imperaret sanitatem, ne non crederetur posse delicta
dimittere ; non licet mihi eandem potestatem in aliquo sine iisdem probationibus
credere." In the tract de Prascriptione H<zreticorum, where Tertullian calls upon
the heretics to declare what miracles had been wrought by the founders of their
several sects, it is worthy of remark that he does not appeal to any instance of the
exercise of miraculous powers in his own day, c. 30. See also c. 44.

1 Gibbon, c. xxviii. p. 99, ed. 410. - C. 23, quoted in note 7.

3 "Nam et exemplum accidit, Domino teste, ejus mulieris quse theatrum adiit
et inde cum dsemonio rediit. Itaque in exorcismo quum oneraretur immundus
Spiritus quod ausus esset fidelem adgredi. ' Constanter et justissime quidem,
inquit, feci : in meo earn inveni, 1 " c. 26.

4 See also the tract ad Scapulam, c. 4. "Nam et cujusdam notarius, quum a
dEemone prsecipitaretur, liberatus est ; et quorundam propinquus et puerulus. Et
quanti honesti viri, de vulgaribus enim non dicimus, aut a dsemoniis aut valetu-



5 2 The Ecclesiastical History of the

Surely if miraculous powers still subsisted in the Church, the
writings of Tertullian would have supplied some less equivocal
instances of their exercise.

Gibbon has animadverted on the evasions of Middleton
respecting the clear traces of visions to be found in the apostolic
Fathers. 1 Yet it appears to me that Middleton might have
admitted their existence without any detriment to the main
position of his essay. His object was to prove that, after the
apostolic age, no standing power of working miracles existed in
the Church that there was no regular succession of favoured
individuals upon whom God conferred supernatural powers,
which they could exercise for the benefit of the Church of Christ
whenever their judgment, guided by the influence of the Holy
Spirit, told them that it was expedient so to do. This position
is perfectly compatible with the belief that God still revealed
Himself in dreams to pious members of the Church, for their
especial comfort and instruction. The. distinction between the
two cases has been expressly pointed out by Middleton himself.
When, however, we examine the visions recorded in Tertullian's
writings, we shall feel great difficulty in believing that they were
revelations from heaven. He mentions a Christian female to
whom visions were frequently vouchsafed in the time of divine
service. 2 They related for the most part to points which had
formed the subject of previous discussion. On one occasion, a
question having arisen respecting the soul, it was exhibited to
her in a corporeal state. He tells another story of a female,
who saw in a dream a linen cloth, on which was inscribed, with
accompanying expressions of reprobation, the name of an actor
whom she had heard that very day at the theatre. 3 Tertullian
adds that she did not survive the dream five days. An un-
fortunate man, whose servants, on the occasion of some public
rejoicing, had, without his knowledge, suspended garlands over
his doors, was for this involuntary offence severely chastised in a
vision ; 4 and a female, who had somewhat too liberally displayed
her person, was thus addressed by an angel in a dream, " Cervices,
quasi applauderet, verberans : ' Elegantes, inquit, cervices, et
merito nudse.' " 5 It should be observed that all these visions are

dinibus remediati sunt ! " In the tract dc Exhortatione Castitatis, c. 12, sub fine,
is a story of a man who married a second wife under the idea that she was barren ;
but she proved pregnant ; preternaturally, as our author would insinuate. See
also two stories in the tract de Animd, c. 51.

1 Chap, xv., note 71. 2 De Animd, c. 9. 3 De Spectaculis, c. 26.

4 De Idololatrid, c. 15. 5 De Virginibus velandis, c. 17.



Second and Third Centuries. 5 3

introduced in confirmation of some opinion for which Tertullian
is at the time contending. His enthusiastic temper readily dis-
covered in them indications of a divine origin ; the unprejudiced
reader will probably come to a different conclusion.

But though miraculous gifts might have ceased in the Church,
the Almighty might still interpose for its protection, and for the
advancement of its interests, by especial and visible manifesta-
tions of His power. An instance of such interposition is
recorded in the writings of Tertullian, which is generally known
by the name of the Miracle of the Thundering Legion. He
asserts in the Apology?- as well as in the Address to Scapula? that
Marcus Antoninus became a protector of the Christians, because
during his expedition into Germany he, together with his army,
was preserved from perishing with thirst by a seasonable shower
of rain, procured by the prayers of his Christian soldiers. In
support of his assertion, he appeals to a letter of the Emperor, in
which the deliverance of the army was ascribed to this cause ; he
does not, however, affirm that he had himself seen the letter.
The story has been repeated by subsequent writers, and has
received, as might be expected, considerable additions in the
transmission. Not on-ly were the Roman soldiers preserved by
the seasonable shower, but the army of the enemy was destroyed
by a storm of thunder and lightning which accompanied it. 3

That during the German war the Roman army suffered severely
from want of water, and was relieved from a situation of great
peril by a seasonable shower of rain, is a fact which does not rest
on the single authority of Tertullian. It is recorded by several
profane writers, and confirmed by the indisputable testimony of
the Antonine colutrtn. Nor was Tertullian singular in regarding
the event as preternatural : the heathen historians did the same.
But while Tertullian ascribes the deliverance of the Emperor to
the prayers of his Christian soldiers, Dion Cassius gives the credit
of it to certain magical rites performed by an Egyptian named
Arnuphis ; 4 and on the Antonine column it is attributed to the

1 "At nos e contrario edimus protectorem, si literas M. Aurelii gravissimi
imperatoris requirantur, quibus illam Germanicam sitim Christianorum forte
militum precationibus impetrato imbri discussam contestatur," c. 5.

2 " Marcus quoque Aurelius in Germanica expeditione, Christianorum militum
orationibus ad Deum factis, imbres in siti ilia impetravit," c. 4.

3 Hist. Eccl. Eusebii, 1. v. c. 5. Apollinarius, who was prior to Tertullian,
appears to have mentioned the storm of thunder and lightning.

4 See the Epitome of Dion by Xiphilinus. Marcus Antoninus, p. 246 C, ed.
H. Steph. 1568.



54 The Ecclesiastical History of the

immediate interposition of Jupiter Pluvius. This latter circum-
stance completely disproves Tertullian's statement respecting
the existence of a letter in which the Emperor ascribed his
deliverance to the prayers of his Christian soldiers a statement,
indeed, neither reconcilable with his general character, nor with
the harsh treatment experienced by the Christians during his
reign.

Referring the reader to Lardner x for a full account of all that
has been said by learned men on the subject of this story, I
shall content myself with remarking that, as told by Tertullian, it
contains nothing miraculous. The Roman army was reduced to
great extremity the Christian soldiers who were present put up
prayers to God for deliverance and a seasonable shower of rain
relieved the army from its perilous situation. Tertullian indeed
wishes his reader to infer that the shower was the consequence
of the prayers of the Christian soldiers ; that, unless they had
prayed, the shower would not have fallen. But this is to assume
an acquaintance with the designs of Providence, which man can
obtain only by immediate revelation. The pious mind, persuaded
that the course of this world is ordered by the divine governance,
naturally has recourse to prayer in the hour of danger ; and after
the danger is passed, it pours forth its gratitude to God for
having so ordered events as to admit of a compliance with its
petitions. But it presumes not to ascribe such efficacy to its
prayers as would imply that God had been induced by them to
alter the course of His government. To represent events, which
are in themselves of a character strictly natural, a storm for
instance, or an earthquake, as produced by an especial interposi-
tion of divine power, exerted in compliance with the prayers of
men, is to speak the language, not of genuine piety, but of
superstition. Yet such was the language of Tertullian's day.
We find in his writings numerous instances of the same disposi-
tion to ascribe events to the immediate interference of the
Almighty. The Christians in Africa had been deprived of their
burial grounds ; 2 Tertullian represents a total failure of the
harvest, which occurred shortly after, as a punishment inflicted
upon the pagan inhabitants for this act of injustice. He accounts

1 Heathen Testimonies, Marcus Antoninus, sect. iii.

2 " Sicut et sub Hilariano praeside, quum de areis sepulturarum nostrarum
adclamassent, ' Area non sint,' Areas ipsorum non fuerunt ; messes enim suas
non egerunt," c. 3. Our author plays upon the double meaning of the word
area, which signifies a threshing-floor as well as an enclosure. Ad Scapulam,
c. 3.



Second and Third Centuries. 5 5

in a similar manner for an extraordinary quantity of rain which
had fallen in the year preceding, that in which his Address to
Scapula was written. 1 He speaks of flames which appeared to
hang by night over the walls of Carthage, and of an almost total
extinction of the sun's light at Utica, and discovers in them
infallible presages of the impending wrath of Heaven. To the
same wrath he imputes the calamities which had befallen those
Roman governors who had been particularly active in their
persecution of the Christians.

I shall take this opportunity of offering a few remarks upon
another fact, not of a miraculous nature, related by Tertullian.
He says, in the Apology? that the Emperor Tiberius, having
received from Palestine an account of those supernatural events
which proved the Divinity of Christ, proposed to the Senate that
He should be received among the deities of Rome that the
Senate rejected the proposal that Tiberius retained his opinion,
and menaced all who brought accusations against the Christians.
In a subsequent passage Tertullian states that the account was
sent to Tiberius by Pilate, who was in his conscience a Christian ; 3
and adds an expression which implies that worldly considerations
alone prevented Tiberius from believing in Christ. The story is
repeated by Eusebius, 4 who appeals to Tertullian as his authority
for it. Lardner, after a detailed examination of the objections
which have been made to its truth, pronounces it deserving of
regard. 5 Mosheim also seems to be of opinion that it ought not
to be entirely rejected. 6 Gibbon treats it as a mere fable, but
some of his arguments appear to me far from convincing. One

1 Ad Scapulam, c. 3.

2 ' ' Tiberius ergo, cujus tempore nomen Christianum in seculum introivit,
annuntiata sibi ex Syria Palestine, quag illic veritatem illius divinitatis reve-
laverant, detulit ad Senatum cum praerogativa suffragii sui. Senatus, quia non
ipse probaverat, respuit. Caesar in sententia mansit, comminatus periculum
accusatoribus Christianorum," c. 5. In this passage Pearson would read "quia
non in se probaverat,'' for '' quia non ipse probaverat,'' and interpret the sentence
thus : The Senate rejected the proposal because Tiberius had not approved a
similar proposal in his own case had himself refused to be deified. Lardner con-
tends that this must be the meaning, even if ipse is retained. But a sentence
which precedes, " Vetus erat decretum, ne qui Deus ab Imperatore consecraretur,
nisi a Senatu probatus," shows that ipse refers to Senatus : the Senate refused
because it had not itself approved the proposal ; and so the passage was translated
in the Greek version used by Eusebius.

3 " Ea omnia super Christo Pilatus, et ipse jam pro sua conscientia Chris-
tianus, Csesari tune Tiberio nuntiavit. Sed et Cassares credidissent super Christo,
si aut Csesares non essent seculo necessarii, aut si et Christian! potuissent esse
Caesares," c. 21.

4 Hist. Eccl. \. ii. c. 2. 5 Heathen Testimonies, c. 2.
6 Ecclesiastical History, Cent. i. c. 4.



56 The Ecclesiastical History of the

is founded on a misrepresentation of Tertullian's statement :
"We are required," says Gibbon, 1 "to believe that Tiberius
protected the Christians from the severity of the laws many years
before such laws were enacted, or before the Church had assumed
any distinct name or existence." Now Tertullian says not a
word about any protection from the severity of the laws, afforded
by Tiberius to the Christians ; he merely says that Tiberius
threatened all who accused them. This threat appears to me to
have referred to the inveterate hostility manifested by the Jews
against Christ and His disciples, which had come to the
Emperor's knowledge through the account transmitted by Pilate.
Tertullian could not intend to say that any laws against the
Christians were in force during the reign of Tiberius, since he
has declared more than once that Nero was the first Emperor
who enacted any such laws. 2 I must, however, confess my own
opinion to be that the story is liable to just suspicion. It rests
entirely on the authority of Tertullian. How happened it that
so remarkable a fact, as a public proposal from the Emperor to
the Senate to receive Christ among the gods of Rome, escaped
the notice of every other writer ? Justin Martyr, who on two
different occasions appeals to what he calls the Acts of Pilate, 3
in confirmation of the gospel narrative of our Saviour's sufferings
and miracles, is silent respecting the proposal of Tiberius to the
Senate.

But to proceed with the information supplied by Tertullian's
works respecting the causes which contributed to the rapid
growth of Christianity during the latter part of the second
century. We have seen that they furnish no ground for ascrib-
ing the success of its teachers at that period to the exercise of
miraculous powers. They enable us, however, to ascertain that,
by the pious zeal and diligence of its professors, powerful engines
had been set at work to promote the diffusion of the gospel.
Of these, Mosheim has noticed two : 4 the translation of the New
Testament into different languages, and the composition of
numerous Apologies for the Christian faith. The writings of
Tertullian, which contain quotations from nearly all the books
of the New Testament, render it highly probable that a Latin

1 Chap. xvi. p. 556, ed. 410.

2 Apology, cc. 5, 21 ; ad Nat. 1. i. c. 7 ; Scorpiace, c. 15.

3 Apol. i. pp. 76 C, 84 C. The Acts of Pilate here referred to were the daily
transactions of his government, registered in a book, a copy of which was probably
sent to Rome.

4 Century ii. part i. c. i. '



Second and Third Centuries. 5 7

translation existed in his day. 1 By such a translation the history
and doctrines of the gospel would be rendered accessible to a
large portion of the subjects of the Roman Empire, who had
previously derived their notions of the new religion only from
report, and that perhaps the report of enemies anxious to mis-
represent it. They were now enabled to judge for themselves,
and to perceive how admirably all its precepts are adapted to
promote the well-being of society, and to diffuse universal
happiness. The favourable impression produced upon the minds
of men by the perusal of the sacred books was doubtless con-
firmed and increased by the numerous Apologies for Christianity
to which Mosheim alludes. _ Among these the Apology of Ter-
tullian has always held a distinguished place, and there is perhaps
no better mode of conveying to the mind of the reader an
accurate notion of the general condition of the Christians in
the second century of the difficulties with which they had to
contend, and of the principles on which they acted than by
laying before him a brief summary of its contents. It will be
necessary, however, to offer by way of preface a few remarks
respecting what may be called the legal position of the Chris-
tians at that period, or the point of view in which they were
regarded by the Roman laws.

Mosheim 2 says that " in the beginning of the second century
there were no laws in force against the Christians ; for the Senate
had annulled the cruel edicts of Nero, and Nerva had abrogated
the sanguinary laws of his predecessor Domitian." Gibbon 3 also
infers from Pliny's celebrated letter to Trajan that, when the
former accepted the government of Bithynia, " there were no
general laws or decrees of the Senate in force against the Chris-
tians ; and that neither Trajan nor any of his virtuous pre-
decessors, whose edicts were received into the civil and criminal
jurisprudence, had publicly declared their intentions concerning
the new sect." If, however, we attach any weight to the state-
ments of Tertullian, the conclusions both of Gibbon and

1 Semler indeed insinuates that the works, extant under Tertullian's name,
contain the first specimens of a Latin translation. " Itaque videmur hie ipsa
primordia Latince Translationis occupare et deprehendere. " And again, "Aut
illud scivit (Tertullianus) tarn pauca esse adhuc Evangelii Latini exemplaria (nulln
forte alia, quam hoc primum, suum ipsius)," etc., sect. iv. Yet he asserts that
Tertullian, or whoever the author might be, never used a Greek MS. : "De eo
enim satis jam certi sumus, etsi solent viri docti aliter statuere, hunc scriptorem
oculis suis manibusque nunquam usurpasse Graecum ullum codicem Evangel-
iorum aut Epistolarum," etc., ibid.

2 Century ii. part i. c. 2. 3 Chap. xvi. p. 540, ed. 410.



58 7^ he Ecclesiastical History of the

Mosheim are erroneous. In the first book ad Nationes?
Tertullian expressly says that, while all the other edicts of Nero
had been repealed, that against the Christians alone remained in
force. In the Apology? after having stated that Nero and
Domitian were the only Emperors who had persecuted the
Christians, he says, as we have already seen, that Marcus
Antoninus became their protector in consequence of the miracu-