'STAND FAST IN THE FAITH'

New Zealand Tablet, 16 October 1913, Page 3

'STAND FAST IN THE FAITH'

(A weekly- instruction specially written for the N.Z. Tablet by ‘Ghimel’.)

THE ROMAN CHURCH IN lIS INFANCY THE PERSECUTION UNDER NERO— IV. Our Lord sent His disciples to bear witness to His Person and mission even to the ends of the earth, and at the same time predicted that they would suffer persecution they bore their testimony, and His words soon found their fulfilment in the pathetic story of the' persecution under Nero. All citizens of the Roman Empire were obliged to accept the national gods: failure to do so was looked upon as a denial of the gods’ existence. The Jews indeed were exempt from this obligation, and Roman Law recognised their religion as legal, for after all it was the worship of some national god but the ordinary 1 people of Rome and other large cities were fully persuaded that the J ews must be atheists, for they were never seen to worship idols. At the beginning the Christians were looked upon by outsiders as "a Jewish sect, and consequently were treated in the same way; they could look to the Roman officials for protection against the violence of Jewish and Pagan mobs, but they had to bear their share of the calumny and the illtreatment of which the Jews were the subject on account of their supposed atheism. But from the year 50 or so onwards the Jews themselves became anxious to make it clear that they had nothing to do with the Christians, and the rapid growth of the new religion soon forced the same fact upon the attention of the Roman authorities. This distinction, however, was not beneficial in many ways to the Christians. They were still charged with atheism, and, like the Jews, were accused by the populace of adoring an Ass’s head nay, they were considered worse than Jews, foi so far as could be seen they offered no sacrifices. In the course of time, writes M. Allard, they were accused of every kind of crime, appearing in the eyes of the populace scarcely worthy of the title of humanity. • • . Horrible misdeeds, such as incest, murders, and ritual cannibalism, were quite commonly imputed to them. _ Dreadful stories went the rounds concerning the abominations which were committed at their places of meeting ; under cover of the darkness the most awful mysteries of depravity and cruelty were supposed to be enacted, A Christian, too, seemed good for nothing; he was considered unfitted equally for public or private business.’ When, in the year 64, Nero found himself the object of popular hatred on account of the burning of Rome, he could easily take his stand on this stupid belief, and accuse the Christians, ‘those criminals capable of every crime,’ of the conflagration. The great Roman writer, Tacitus, must tell the story. His account begins thus:— ‘A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously contrived by the Emperor is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts, worse however, and more dreadful than any which ever happened to this city by fire.’ After describing the rise and progress of the fire, Tacitus continues: ‘No one dared stop the spread of the fire, because of incessant menaces from a number of persons, who forbade the extinguishing of the flames, because again others openly hurled brands, and kept shouting that there was one who gave them authority either seeking to plunder more freely, or obeying orders,’ These circumstances all point to Nero as the author* of the fire. The people were provided with food, but: ‘ Their murmurs, though popular, produced no effect, for the rumor had gone forth everywhere that, at the hour when the city was in flames, the Emperor appeared on a private-stage and sung of the destruction of Troy, comparing present misfortunes with the calamities of antiquity.’ After five days the fire ceased, but broke out . afresh under very suspicious circumstances. Nothing availed to get rid of the sinister report that the fire was due to Nero’s order. And so, in the hope of dissipating the rumor, he falsely

diverted the charge and inflicted the most exquisite punishments on a- set of oeoole whom the populace called Christians, s and who were detested for the abominations which they practised. The originator of the name, a person called "Christus, had been executed by Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius, and the dangerous superstition, though put down for the moment, again broke out, not only in Judaea, the original home of the pest, but even in Rome, where everything horrible or shameful collects and is practised. Those, therefore, who confessed [that is, admitted they belonged to this "sect"] were first brought to trial then on information elicited from these, an immense multitude was involved in their fate [or convicted], not so much of firing the city, as of hatred to the human race.' The historian then describes their sufferings: 'The deaths were contrived so as to afford merriment to the spectators. Some were covered with the skins of wild bears and torn to pieces by dogs; others were fastened to crosses, to be set on fire after dark, that their burning might illumine the night. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle. There were chariot races, and the Emperor, dressed as a charioteer, mixed freely with the crowd, sometimes on foot, sometimes in his car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved the most 1 exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of pity, for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty that they were being destroyed.' It is a relief to turn from this gruesome, though faithful, description to the picture of the same events that St. Clement of Rome drew with the hand of faith for the faithful at Corinth: 'Let us set before us the noble examples which belong to our own generation. By reason of jealousy and envy the greatest and most righteous pillars of the Church were persecuted and contended even unto death. Let us set before our eyes the examples of the good Apostles. There was Peter, who, by means of unrighteous jealousy, endured, not one or two, but many labors, and thus having borne his testimony, went to his appointed place of glory. By reason of strife and jealousy Paul, by his example, pointed out the prize of patient endurance. After that he had been several times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had preached in the East and West, he won the noble renown, which was the reward of his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and having reached the furtherest bounds of the West, and when he had borne his testimony before the rulers, so he departed from the world. . . :... Unto these men of holy lives were gathered a vast multitude of the elect, who, through many indignities and tortures, being the victims of jealousy, set a brave example amongst ourselves. By reason of jealousy women being persecuted, after they had suffered cruel and unholy insults as Danaids and Dircae [that is, they were made to play some outrageous part in a mythological comedy], safely reached the goal in the race of faith, and received a noble reward.'