Sect. 1.

Christians called Nazareas by the

Jews and heathens.

BESIDES the names already spoken of, there were some other reproachful names cast upon them by their adversaries, which it will not be improper here to mention. The first of these was Nazarens, a name of reproach given them first by the Jews, by whom they are styled the sect of the Nazarens, Acts xxiv. 5. There was, indeed, a particular heresy, who called themselves Nazwpaio: and Epiphanius' thinks the Jews had a more especial spite at them, because they were a sort of Jewish apostates, who kept circumcision and the Mosaical rites together with the Christian religion: and therefore, he says, they were used to curse and anathematize them three times a day, morning, noon, and evening, when they met in their synagogues to pray, in this direful form of execration, Επικαταρᾶσαι ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς Ναζωραιους, Send thy curse, O God, upon the Nazarens. But St. Jerom says this was levelled at Christians in general, who they thus anathematized under the name of Nazarens. And this seems most probable, because, as both St. Jerom3 and Epiphanius himself' observes, the Jews termed all Christians, by way of reproach, Nazarens. And the Gentiles took it from the Jews, as appears from that of Datianus the prætor in Prudentius,' where, speaking to the Christians, he gives them the name of Nazarens.

Some think the Christians at first were very free to own this name, and esteemed it no reproach, till such time as the heresy of the Nazarens broke out, and then, in detestation of that heresy, they forsook that name, and called themselves Christians, Acts xi. 26. But whether this be said according to the exact rules of chronology, I leave those that are better skilled to determine.

Sect. 2. And Galilæans.

Another name of reproach was that of Galilæans, which was Julian's ordinary style, whenever he spake of Christ or Christians. Thus in his dialogue with old Maris, a blind Christian bishop, mentioned by Sozomen,' he told him by way of scoff, Thy Galilæan God will not cure thee. And again, in his epistle to Arsacius, high priest of Galatia, The Galilæans maintain their own poor, and ours also. The like may be observed in Socrates,' Theodoret," Chrysostom," and Gregory Nazianzen," who adds, that he not only called them Galilæans himself, but made a law that no one should call them by any other name, thinking thereby to abolish the name of Christians.

Sect. 3. Also atheists.

They also called them atheists, and their religion, the atheism or impiety, because they derided the worship of the heathen gods. Dio" says, Acilius Glabrio was put to death for atheism, meaning the Christian religion. And the Christian apologists, Athenagoras," Justin Martyr," Arnobius," and others, reckon this among the crimes which the heathens usually lay to their charge. Eusebius says," the name was become so common, that when the persecuting magistrates would oblige a Christian to renounce his religion, they bade him abjure it in this form, by saying, among other things, Αίρε τοὺς ἀθέους, Confusion to the atheists, Away with the impious, meaning the Christians.

18 Hieron. Ep. 10. ad Furiam. Ubicunque viderint Christianum, statim illud de Trivio, 'O yрaiкòs éπiðérηs, vocant impostorem.

19 Justin Dial. c. Tryph. p. 335.

The reason why they added the name of Greeks to that of impostors, was (as learned men" conjecture) because many of the Christian philosophers took upon them the Grecian or philosophic habit, which was the περißóλaiov, or pallium: whence the Greeks were called palliati, as the Romans were called togati, or gens togata, from their proper habit, which was the toga. Now, it being some offence to the Romans, to see the Christians quit the Roman gown to wear the Grecian cloak, they thence took occasion to mock and deride them with the scurrilous names of Greeks, and Grecian impostors. Tertullian's book de Pallio was written to show the spiteful malice of this foolish objection.

Sect. 5. Magicians.

But the heathens went one step further in their malice; and because our Saviour and his followers did many miracles, which they imputed to evil arts and the power of magic, they therefore generally declaimed against them as magicians, and under that character exposed them to the fury of the vulgar. Celsus" and others pretended that our Saviour studied magic in Egypt: and St. Austin" says, it was generally believed among the heathen, that he wrote some books about magic too, which he delivered to Peter and Paul for the use of his disciples. Hence it was that Suetonius," speaking in the language of his party, calls the Christians, genus hominum superstitionis maleficæ, the men of the magical superstition. As Asclepiades, the judge in Prudentius, styles St. Romanus the martyr, arch-magician. And St. Ambrose observes, in the passion of St. Agnes," how the people cried out against her, Away with the sorceress ! away with the enchanter! Nothing being

20 Lucian. Peregrin.

21 Cels. ap. Orig. lib. 1. p. 20.

22 Prudent. Tepi σTED. Carm. 10. de Romano Mart. Quis hos sophistas error invexit novus, &c.

23 Digest. lib. 50. tit. 13. c. 1. Si incantavit, si imprecatus est, si (ut vulgari verbo impostorum utar) si exorcizavit.

24 Kortholt de Morib. Christian. c. 3. p. 23. Baron. an. 56. n. 11.

25 Origen. cont. Cels. lib. 1. Arnobius, lib. 1. 26 Aug. de Consensu Evang. lib. 1. c. 9.

27 Sueton. Neron. c. 16.

p. 36.

28 Prudent. Tapi σTED. Hymn. 10. de S. Romano. Quousque tandem summus hic nobis magus illudit.

39 Ambr. Serm. 90. in S. Agnen. Tolle magam! Tolle maleficam !

more common than to term all Christians, especially such as wrought miracles," by the odious name of sorcerers and magicians.

Sect. 6. The new superstition.

The new superstition was another name of reproach for the Christian religion. Suetonius gives it that title," and Pliny and Tacitus add to it the opprobrious terms of wicked and unreasonable superstition. By which name also Nero triumphed over it, in his trophies which he set up at Rome, when he had harassed the Christians with a most severe persecution. He gloried that he had purged the country of robbers, and those that obtruded and inculcated the new superstition" upon mankind. By this, there can be no doubt, he meant the Christians, whose religion is called the superstition in other inscriptions of the like nature. See that of Diocletian cited in Baronius, anno 304, from Occo. Superstitione Christianorum ubique deleta, &c.

Not much unlike this was that other name which Porphyry" and some others give it, when they call it the barbarous, new, and strange religion. In the acts of the famous martyrs of Lyons, who suffered under Antoninus Pius, the heathens scornfully insult it with this character. For having burnt the martyrs to ashes, and scattered their remains into the river Rhone, they said they did it to cut off their hopes of a resurrection, upon the strength of which they sought to obtrude the new and strange religion upon mankind. But now let us see whether they will rise again, and whether their God can help and deliver them out of our hands. Celsus gives them the name of Sibyllists, because the Christians in their disputes with the heathens sometimes made use of the authority of Sibylla, their own prophetess, against them; whose writings they urged with so much advantage to the Christian cause, and prejudice to the heathen, that Justin Martyr" says, the Roman governors made it death for any one to read them, or Hystaspes, or the writings of the prophets. They also reproached them with the Sect. 8. appellation of Biabávaroi, self-murder

36

Sect. 7. Christians why called Sibyllists.

Biathanati.

ers, because they readily offered themselves up to

80 See Kortholt de Morib. Christ. c. 4. 81 Sueton. Nero. c. 16.

82 Plin. lib. 10. Ep. 97. Nihil aliud inveni, quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam. Tacit. Annal. 15. c. 44. Exitiabilis superstitio.

93 Inscript. Antiq. ad Calcem Sueton. Oxon. NERONI. CLAUD. CAIS. AUG. PONT. MAX. OB. PROVINC. LATRONIB. ET. HIS. QUI. NOVAM. GENERI. HUM. SUPERSTITION. INCULCAB. PURGAT. 34 "Ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 6. c. 19. τόλμημα.

Βάρβαρον

35 Act. Mart. Lugd. ap. Euseb. lib. 5. c. 1. Opησkilav ξένην καὶ καινην.

36 Origen. cont. Cels. lib. 5. p. 272. 37 Just. Apol. 2. p. 82.

43

κακο

martyrdom, and cheerfully underwent any violent death, which the heathens could inflict upon them. With what eagerness they courted death, we learn not only from the Christian writers themselves, but from the testimonies of the heathens" concerning them. Lucian" says, they not only despised death, but many of them voluntarily offered themselves to it, out of a persuasion that they should be made immortal and live for ever. This he reckons folly, and therefore gives them the name of kakodaiuoves, the miserable wretches that threw away their lives. In which sense Porphyry" also styles the Christian religion, Bápßapov róλunua, the barbarous boldness. As Arrius Antoninus 12 terms the professors of it, do, the stupid wretches, that had such a mind to die; and the heathen in Minucius, homines deploratæ ac desperate factionis, the men of the forlorn and desperate faction. All which agrees with the name biothanati, or biaothanati, as Baronius" understands it. Though it may signify not only self-murderers, but (as a learned critics notes) men that expect to live after death. In which sense the heathens probably might use it likewise, to ridicule the Christian doctrine of the resurrection; on which, they knew, all their fearless and undaunted courage was founded. For so the same heathen in Minucius endeavours to expose at once both their resolution and their belief: O strange folly, and incredible madness! says he; they despise all present torments, and yet fear those that are future and uncertain: they are afraid of dying after death, but in the mean time do not fear to die. So vainly do they flatter themselves, and allay their fears, with the hopes of some reviving comforts after death. For one of these reasons, then, they gave them the name of biothanati, which word expressly occurs in some of the Acts of the ancient Martyrs. Baronius observes," out of Bede's Martyrology, that when the seven sons of Symphorosa were martyred under Hadrian, their bodies were all cast into one pit together, which the temple-priests named from them, Ad septem biothanatos, The grave of the seven biothanati.

fight with wild beasts upon the stage or amphitheatre, whence they had also the name of bestiarii, and confectores. Now, because the Christians were put to fight for their lives in the same manner, and they rather chose to do it than deny their religion, they therefore got, e name of paraboli, and parabolani; which, though it was intended as a name of reproach and mockery, yet the Christians were not unwilling to take it to themselves, being one of the truest characters that the heathens ever gave them. And therefore they sometimes gave themselves this name, by way of allusion to the Roman paraboli. As in the passion" of Abdo and Senne in the time of Valerian, the martyrs who were exposed to be devoured by wild beasts in the amphitheatre, are said to enter, ut audacissimi parabolani, as most resolute champions, that despised their own lives for their religion's sake. But the other name of desperati they rejected as a calumny, retorting it back upon their adversaries, who more justly deserved it. Those, says Lactantius," who set a value upon their faith, and will not deny their God, they first torment and butcher them with all their might, and then call them desperados, because they will not spare their own bodies; as if any thing could be more desperate, than to torture and tear in pieces those whom you cannot but know to be innocent. Tertullian mentions another name,

Sect. 10.

semaxi.

which was likewise occasioned by their Sarmentitii, and sufferings. The martyrs which were burnt alive, were usually tied to a board, or stake, of about six foot long, which the Romans called semaxis; and then they were surrounded or covered with faggots of small wood, which they called sarmenta. From this their punishment, the heathen, who turned every thing into mockery, gave all Christians the despiteful name of sarmentitii and semaxii. 19

The heathen in Minucius 50 takes Sect. 11. occasion also to reproach them under Lucifugaz natio. the name of the skulking generation, or the men that loved to prate in corners and the dark. The ground of which scurrilous reflection was only this, that they were forced to hold their religious assemblies in the night to avoid the fury of the persecutions. Which Celsus" himself owns, though otherwise prone enough to load them with hard names and odious reflections.

46 Baron. an. 138. n. 5.

47 Acta Abdon. et Sennes ap. Suicer.

48 Lact. Instit. lib. 5. c. 9. Desperatos vocant, quia corpori suo minime parcunt, &c.

49 Tertul. Apol. c. 50. Licet nunc sarmentitios et semaxios appelletis, quia ad stipitem dimidii axis revincti, sarmentorum ambitu exurimur.

50 Minuc. Octav. p. 25. Latebrosa et lucifugax natio, in publicum muta, in angulis garrula.

51 Origen. cont. Cel. lib. 1. p. 5.

and pistores.

54

52

it is not very easy to guess the meaning of. He calls them Plautinians, homines plautina prosapiæ. Rigaltius" takes it for a ridicule upon the poverty and simplicity of the Christians, whom the heathens commonly reprented as a company of poor ignorant mechanics, bakers, tailors, and the like; men of the same quality with Plautus, who, as St. Jerom observes, was so poor, that in a time of famine he was forced to hire out himself to a baker to grind at his mill, during which time he wrote three of his plays in the intervals of his labour. Such sort of men Cæcilius says the Christians were; and therefore he styles Octavius in the dialogue, homo Plautinæ prosapiæ, et pistorum præcipuus, a Plautinian, a chief man among the illiterate bakers, but no philosopher. The same reflection is often made by Celsus. You shall see, says he," weavers, tailors, fullers, and the most illiterate and rustic fellows, who dare not speak a word before wise men, when they can get a company of children and silly women together, set up to teach strange paradoxes amongst them. This is one of their rules, says he again," Let no man that is learned, wise, or prudent come among us; but if any be unlearned, or a child, or an idiot, let him freely come. So they openly declare, that none but fools, and sots, and such as want sense, slaves, women, and children, are fit disciples for the God they worship.

the heretics re

dos Christians.

58

proached the ortho- perverse sect among the Christians had some reproachful name to cast upon them. The Novatian party called them Cornelians," because they communicated with Cornelius, bishop of Rome, rather than with Novatianus, his antagonist. They also termed them apostatics, capitolins, synedrians, because they charitably decreed in their synods to receive apostates, and such as went to the capitol to sacrifice, into their communion again upon their sincere repentance. The Nestorians 50 termed the orthodox Cyrillians; and the Arians called them Eustathians and Paulinians, from Eustathius and Paulinus, bishops of Antioch. As also homoousians, because they kept to the doctrine of the oμoovolov, which declared the Son of God to

63

Sect. 14. Christians called Montanists.

be of the same substance with the Father. The author of the Opus Imperfectum on St. Matthew, under the name of Chrysostom," styles them expressly, Haresis homoousianorum, The heresy of the homoousians. And so Serapion in his conflict with Arnobius 62 calls them homousianates, which the printed copy reads corruptly homuncionates, which was a name for the Nestorians. The Cataphrygians, or Montanists, commonly called the orthodox, - psychic by the Xove, carnal; because they rejected the prophecies and pretended inspirations of Montanus, and would not receive his rigid laws about fasting, nor abstain from second marriages, and observe four lents in a year, &c. This was Tertullian's ordinary compliment to the Christians in all his books written after he was fallen into the errors of Montanus. He calls his own party the spiritual, and the orthodox, the carnal. And some of his books are expressly entitled, Adversus Psychicos. Clemens Alexandrinus observes, the same reproach was also used by other heretics beside the Montanists. And it appears from Irenæus, that this was an ancient calumny of the Valentinians, who styled themselves the spiritual and the perfect, and the orthodox, the secular and carnal,“ who had need of abstinence and good works, which were not necessary for them that were perfect. The Millenaries styled them allegorists, because they expounded the Allegorists by the prophecy of the saints reigning a thousand years with Christ, Rev. xx. 4, to a mystical and allegorical sense. Whence Eusebius" observes of Nepos the Egyptian bishop, who wrote for the millennium, that he entitled his book, "EXeyxos 'AMnyopiotŵv, A Confutation of the Allegorists.

64

65

Sect. 15.

Millenaries.

62 Conflict. Arnob, et Serap. ad calcem Irenæi, p. 519. 63 Tertul. adv. Prax. c. 1. Nos quidem agnitio Paracleti disjunxit a psychicis. Id. de Monogam. c. 1. Hæretici nuptias auferunt, psychici ingerunt. See also c. 11 and 16. De Jejuniis adv. Psychicos. De Pudicitia, &c. 65 Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. 4. p. 511.

66 Iren. lib. 1. c. p. 29. Nobis quidem, quos psychicos vocant, et de sæculo esse dicunt, necessariam continentiam, &c.

Ephes. Con. t. 3. p. 746.

67 Euseb. lib. 7. c. 24.

60 Sozom. lib. 6. c. 21.