Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
and again professing Christ, were received to the arms of the church,
and even to the communion of the body and blood of our Lord?
Christians, the great Novatian is he to whom we owe what purity the
church yet retains, and it is in allegiance to him--'
'The great Novatian!' exclaimed a priest of the Roman church, 'great
only in his infamy! Himself an apostate once, he sought afterwards,
having been received himself back again to the church upon his
repentance, to bury his shame under a show of zeal against such as were
guilty of the same offence. His own weakness or sin, instead of teaching
him compassion, served but to harden his heart. Is this the man to whose
principles we are to pledge ourselves? Were his principles sound in
themselves, we could hardly take them from such a source. But they are
false. They are in the face of the spirit and letter of the gospel. What
is the character of the religion of Christ, if it be not mercy? Yet this
great Novatian, to those who like Peter have fallen--Peter whom his
master received and forgave--denies all mercy! and for one offence,
however penitence may wring the soul, cuts them off forever like a
rotten branch from the body of Christ! Is this the teacher whose
follower should appeal for us to the Roman Emperor?'
'I seek not,' Macer began to say, 'to defend the bishop of Rome--'
'Bishop!' cried the other, 'bishop! who ever heard that Novatian was
bishop of Rome? But who has not heard that that wicked and ambitious man
through envy of Cornelius, and resolved to supplant him, caused himself
to be ordained bishop by a few of that order, weak and corrupt men,
whom he bribed to the bad work, but who, corrupt as they were, and
bribed as they were, it was first needful to make drunk before
conscience would allow them by such act eternally to disgrace themselves
and the church--'
'Lies and slanders all,' cried Macer and others with him, in the same
breath and with their utmost voice. The greatest confusion prevailed. A
thousand contradictory cries were heard. In the midst of the uproar the
name of Macer was proclaimed by many as that of one who would best
assert and defend the Christian cause before Aurelian. But these were
soon overborne and silenced by a greater number, who now again called
upon Probus to fill that office.
Probus seemed not sorry that, his name being thus tumultuously called
out, he had it again in his power to speak to the assembly. Making a
sign accordingly that he would be heard, he said,
'That he coveted not the honorable office of appealing for them to the
Emperor of Rome. It would confer more happiness a thousand fold,
Christians, if I could by any words of mine put harmony and peace into
your hearts, than if I might even convert a Roman emperor. What a scene
of confusion and discord is this, at such an hour, when, if ever, our
hearts should be drawn closer together by this exposure to a common
calamity. Why is it that when at home, or moving abroad in the business
of life, your conversation so well becomes your name and faith, drawing
upon you even the commendation of your Pagan foes, you no sooner
assemble together, as now, than division and quarrel ensue, in such
measure, as among our Heathen opponents is never seen? Why is it,
Christians, that when you are so ready to die for Christ, you will not
live at peace for him? Honor you not him more by showing that you are of
his spirit, that for his name's sake you are willing to bear patiently
whatever reproach may be laid upon you, than you do even by suffering
and dying for him? The questions you have here agitated are not for this
hour and place. What now does it signify whether one be a follower of
Paul, of Origen, of Sabellius, or Novatian, when we are each and all so
shortly to be called upon to confess our allegiance to neither of
these--but to a greater, even Jesus, the master and head of us all! And
what has our preference for some of the doctrines of either of these to
do with our higher love of Christ and his truth? By such preference is
our superior and supreme regard for Jesus and his word vitiated or
invalidated? Nay, what is it we then do when we embrace the peculiar
doctrine of some great or good man, who has gone before, but embrace
that which in a peculiar sense we regard as the doctrine of Christ? We
receive the peculiar doctrine of Paul, or Justin, or Origen, not because
it is theirs, but because we think they have shown it to be eminently
the doctrine of Christ. In binding upon us then the dogmas of any
teacher, we ought not to be treated other than as those who, in doing
so, are seeking to do the highest honor, not to such teacher, but to
Christ. I am charged as a disciple of the bishop of Antioch, and the
honored Felix as a disciple of Plato. If I honor Paul of Samosata,
Christians, for any of his truth, it is because I deem him to have
discerned clearly the truth as it is in Jesus. My faith is not in him,
but in Jesus. And if Felix honor Plato or Plotinus, it is but because
in them he beholds some clearer unfolding--clearer than elsewhere--of
the truth in Christ. Are not we then, and all who do the same thing, to
be esteemed as those who honor Christ? not deny nor forsake him. And as
we all hold in especial reverence some one or another of a former age,
through whom as a second master we receive the doctrines of the gospel,
ought we not all to love and honor one another, seeing that in the same
way we all love and honor Christ? Let love, Christians, mutual honor and
love, be the badge of our discipleship, as it was in the first age of
the church. Soon, very soon, will you be called to bear testimony to the
cause you have espoused, and perhaps seal it with your blood. Be not
less ready to show your love to those around you by the promptness with
which you lend your sympathy, or counsel, or aid, as this new flood of
adversity flows in upon them. But why do I exhort you? The thousand acts
of kindness, of charity, of brotherly love, which flow outwards from you
in a perpetual stream toward Heathen not less than Christian, and have
drawn upon you the admiration even of the Pagan world, is sufficient
assurance that your hearts will not be cold when the necessities of this
heavier time shall lay upon you their claims. It is only in the public
assembly, and in the ardor of debate, that love seems cold and dead.
Forget then, now and tomorrow, that you are followers of any other than
Christ. Forget that you call yourselves after one teacher or another,
and remember only that you are brethren, members of one family, of the
same household of faith, owning one master, worshipping one and the same
God and Father of us all. And now, Christians, if you would rather that
Felix should defend you before Aurelian, I would also. There is none
among us who loves Christ more or better than he, or would more readily
lay down his life for his sake.'
Felix however joined with all the others--for all now, after these few
words of Probus, seemed of one opinion--in desiring that Probus should
appear for the Christians before the Emperor; which he then consented to
do. Harmony was once more restored. The differences of opinion, which
separated them, seemed to be forgotten, and they mingled as friends and
fellow-laborers in the great cause of truth. They who had been harshest
in the debate--which was at much greater length, and conducted with much
more vehemence than as I have described it--were among the most forward
to meet with urbanity those who were in faith the most distantly removed
from them. A long and friendly interview then took place, in which each
communed with each, and by words of faith or affection helped to supply
the strength which all needed for the approaching conflict. One saw no
longer and heard no longer the enthusiastic disputant more bent upon
victory than truth, and heedless of the wounds he gave to the heart,
provided he convinced the head or silenced the tongue, but instead,
those who now appeared no other than a company of neighbors and friends
engaged in the promotion of some common object of overwhelming interest.
When in this manner and for a considerable space of time a fit offering
had been laid upon the altar of love, the whole assembly again joined
together in acts of prayer, and again lifted up their voices in song of
praise. This duty being performed, we separated and sought the streets.
The storm which had begun in violence, had increased, and it was with
difficulty that beset by darkness, wind, and rain, I succeeded without
injury in finding my way to the Coelian.
Julia was waiting for me with anxious impatience.
After relating to her the events of the evening, she said,
'How strange, Lucius, the conduct of such men at such a time! How could
Christians, with the Christian's faith in their hearts, so lose the
possession of themselves--and so violate all that they profess as
followers of Jesus! I confess, if this be the manner in which
Christianity is intended to operate upon the character, I am as yet
wholly ignorant of it, and desire ever to remain so. But it is not
possible that they are right. Nay, they seem in some sort to have
acknowledged themselves to have been in the wrong by the last acts of
the meeting. This brings to my mind what Paul has often told me of the
Christians of the same kind, at which I was then amazed, but had
forgotten. I do not comprehend it. I have read and studied the character
and the teachings of Jesus, and it seems to me I have arrived at some
true understanding--for surely there is little difficulty in doing
so--of what he himself was, and of what he wished his followers to be.
Would he have recognized his likeness in those of whom you have now told
me?'
'Yet,' I replied, 'there was more of it there in those very persons than
at first we might be inclined to think; and in the great multitude of
those who were present, it may have been all there, and was in most, I
cannot doubt. We ought not to judge of this community by the leaders of
the several divisions which compose it. They are by no means just
specimens, from which to infer the character of all. They are but too
often restless, ambitious, selfish men; seeking their own aggrandizement
and their party's, rather than the glory of Christ and his truth. I can
conceive of a reception of Christian precept and of the Christian spirit
being but little more perfect and complete, than I have found it among
the humbler sort of the Christians of Rome. Among them there is to be
seen nothing of the temper of violence and bigotry that was visible this
evening in the language of so many. They, for the most part, place the
religion of Jesus in holy living, in love of one another, and patient
waiting for the kingdom of God. And their lives are seen to accord with
these great principles of action. Even for their leaders, who are in so
many points so different from them, this may be said in explanation and
excuse--that from studying the record more than the common people, they
come to consider more narrowly in what the religion of Jesus consists,
and arriving, after much labor, at what they believe in their hearts to
be the precise truth--truth the most vital of any to the power and
success of the gospel--this engrosses all their affections, and prompts
all their labor and zeal. In the dissemination of this do they alone
behold the dissemination of Christianity itself--this being denied or
rejected, the gospel itself is. With such notions as fundamental
principles of action, it is easy to see with what sincere and virtuous
indignation they would be filled toward such as should set at nought and
oppose that, which they cherish as the very central glory and
peculiarity of Christianity. These things being so, I can pity and