CENTURY III.

CONTINUEd.

STATE OF THE CHURCH AT THE DEATH OF PHILIPPERSECUTIONS OF DECIUS AND GALLUS CYPRIAN, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE.

AMIDST all the trials and sufferings of the Christian church, it was hitherto pleasant to witness the blessed effects of that Spirit which our Lord had promised to send unto his people, and which in his blessed fruits was still present with them. You know what are some of those fruits of which I speak; "Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness." He had indeed sown' good seed in his field,' but alas! we shall soon have cause to see that "while men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat." While men 'sleep' is the time Satan lays hold of to mar the work of God in the soul: while they are off their guard, and thoughtless of danger, or resting in indolent and careless security about their souls, the enemy of God and men will not lose the opportunity of planting evil seed among that precious seed which God has sown. This was the case in the church during the long interval of its repose. A careless

spirit, and a degree of lukewarmness in religion, were manifested in the church, which had not existed before. When you hear the account Origen gives of Christians at this time, you will, I am sure, be shocked: he says, 'several go to church only on solemn festivals, and then not so much for instruction as for amusement; others stay not until the lecture is ended, and others heed not a single word, but amuse themselves in a corner of the church.' Is not this very different from the spirit we have hitherto seen pervade the churches? This, it is true, is but the beginning of evil,' yet it is very sad, and was enough to call for the visitation of a righteous and a jealous God. His eye saw what the eye of man could not see; and if Origen thus discovered and lamented the faults or the sins of professing Christians, think how many concealed abominations He must have seen in the walls of his spiritual Zion. He was now about to perform in it what he spake by his prophet concerning the holy city, "Behold, I will search Jerusalem with candles." He was going to make diligent search after those who were his disciples indeed, and to detect those who called themselves by the name of the God of Jacob, while in their hearts they said, "Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." An instrument to effect this was needed, and He raised one up. Decius, who succeeded Philip, A. D. 249, was at once the scourge and the purifier of the Christian church. The persecution he raised

against it was the most rigorous and most varied in its effects, of any I have yet related. But before I give you any account of it I will copy for you a part of a view of the state of the church at its commencement: this account is taken from the works of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage; a man whose praise has ever been in all the churches, and of whom I hope you will one day read and hear more than I can tell you at present.

If the cause of our miseries be sought,' says Cyprian, the cure may be found. The Lord would have His family to be tried. And because long peace had corrupted the discipline divinely revealed to us, the heavenly chastisement hath raised up our faith that had lain almost dormant.' He then goes on to draw a sad portrait of the declension of Christians in the ways of holiness; works of mercy were neglected, fraud and deceit were practised among the brethren; Christians could unite themselves with unbelievers; arts in dress were cultivated, riches sought after; and pastors and people alike forgot their duties: then he asks, What have we not deserved for such conduct? Even the divine word hath told us what we might expect. If His children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges.' From this we may see how deeply Christians had erred, and how inconsistently, even in these early ages, men could act.

Carthage, of which place Cyprian was Bishop,

had need of such a pastor; it was made, under Decius, the scene of persecution, and it did not witness the same unshaken firmness, or the same boldness in the cause of Christ, and love to his religion as formerly. On the contrary, numbers on the first sound of persecution quitted the faith they professed, and ran in crowds to sacrifice to the gods and even Cyprian says, that the number of apostates was so great that the magistrates wished to reserve some for the next day, but the fear of what man could do unto them made these wretched persons tremblingly implore to deny Christ at once.

Nor was imperial Rome without such scenes. Persecution raged there too, and the bishop died a martyr. Cyprian, like a good shepherd of Christ's flock, was always ready to comfort, to rebuke, to exhort, to watch and to pray; but his labours at Carthage were interrupted, his life too was threatened, and judging that that life was not his own, that he ought not to dispose of it of his own will and pleasure, but preserve it when God gave him the ability, for the welfare of his church, Cyprian left Carthage, and for two years lived in some place of quiet retirement. In it he was not idle, but employed himself for the good of the church.

As those weak people who for fear of death gave up their hope of eternal life, knew, and in their hearts despised the emptiness of Pagan idolatry, it is not surprising that numbers, finding no peace in their consciences, would desire to return to the

Holy Faith they had left. On this subject there were various opinions, some being inclined to admit too easily the apostates to the church again, and others to treat them with too great severity. It was customary to honour and love those who died as martyrs for the truth's sake, but it is very ridiculous to honour a poor, sinful, human creature, as something almost divine. We are beginning to hear of Christians doing such things, and you will yet hear more awful consequences of such a practice.

In the middle of this century we are first to observe the commencement of a rapid decline from the pure and simple spirit of genuine piety, and the decrease of those lovely graces which the Spirit of God had shed upon the church in the days of its purity. During the severity of this persecution, the church was in a confused and distressed state, heretics and false professors worked much trouble to the sincere people of God. Cyprian had been obliged to withdraw from his people at Carthage, and the number of professing Christians had been lamentably reduced through the apostacy of false members, and the weakness of unstable onesthese last incessantly implored re-admittance to the church they had left, and caused, as I have said, great perplexity and divisions, for some were fearful of admitting again those who had forsaken them, others wished to do so at once, and some decidedly objected to doing so at all. Cyprian wrote several letters on this subject, but after an