Persecutions arise from intolerance: mainly from ideologues, racial prejudice, and religion. Here we are only concerned with those tribulations stemming from religion.
Religious persecutions have been found to exist far back in time. The ancient heathens had systems of worship of pagan deities. Villages, hamlets and colonies were isolated and had their own unique beliefs. These cults at times persecute others in the name of their deities. Suspicion and the bonds of uniformity caused a tyranny against any deviation from their “orthodoxy.”
The source of the following is:
- The History of the Inquisition
- Philippus van Limborch
- 1731
Persecutions by the Heathen.
The first great Jewish Persecution.
Antiochus Epiphanes, 215 BC — 164 BC
Though a very wicked Prince, yet he was a great Zealot for his Religion, and endeavored to propagate it by all the Methods of the most bloody Persecution. Josephus tells us, that after he had taken Jerusalem, and plundered the Temple, he caused an Altar to be built in it upon which he sacrificed Swine, which were an Abomination to the Jews, and forbidden by their Laws. Not content with this, he compelled them to forsake the Worship of the true God, and to worship such as he accounted Deities; building Altars and Temples to them in all the Towns and Streets, and offering Swine upon them every Day. He commanded them to forbear circumcising their Children, grievously threatening such as should disobey his Orders. He also appointed Overseers, to compel the Jews to come in, and do as he had ordered them. Such as rejected it were continually persecuted and put to Death, with the most grievous Tortures. He ordered them to he cruelly scourged, and their Bodies to be torn, and before they expired under their Tortures, to be crucified. The Women, and the Children which they circumcised, were, by his Command, hanged, the Children hanging from the Necks of their crucified Parents. Where-ever he found any of the sacred Books, or of the Law, he destroyed them, undoubtedly to prevent the Propagation of heretical Opinions, and punished with Death such as kept them. The same Author tells us also, in his History of the Maccabees, that Antiochus put forth an Edict, whereby he made it Death for any to observe the Jewish Religion, and compelled them, by Tortures, to abjure it. The inhuman Barbarities he exercised upon Eleazar and the Maccabees, because they would not renounce their Religion, and sacrifice to his Grecian Gods, are not, in some Circumstances, to be paralleled by any Histories of Persecution extant, and will ever render the Name and Memory of that illustrious Tyrant execrable and infamous. It was on the same religious Account that he banished the Philosophers from all Parts of his Kingdom, the Charge against them being, their corrupting the youth, i. e. teaching them Notions of the Gods, different from the common orthodox Opinions which were established by Law, commanding Phaniat, that such youths as convened with them should be hanged.
Persecutions by the Roman Emperors.
The ten Persecutions, as they are reckoned, of the Christians by the Roman Emperors, purely for their Religion, are standing Monuments of their religious Zeal, or rather of their outrageous Fury against all Who would not comply with the established state Religion. Indeed, the very civil Constitution of Rome was founded upon persecuting Principles. Tertullian tells us: That ’twas an ancient Decree that no Emperor should consecrate a, new God, unless he was approved by the Senate; and one of the standing Laws of the Republic was to this Effect, as Cicero gives it, “That no one should have separately new God’s, no nor worship privately foreign Gods, unless admitted by the Commonwealth. This Law he endeavors to vindicate by Reason and the Light of Nature, by adding, That for Persons to worship their own, or new, or foreign Gods, would be to Confusion and ,strange Ceremonies in Religion. . . . It was no wonder therefore that Christianity, which was so perfectly contrary to the whole System of Pagan Theology, should be looked upon with an evil Eye, or that when the Number of Christians increased, they should incur the Displeasure of the Civil, Magistrate and the Censure of the penal Laws that were in force against them.
The first public Persecution of them by the Romans was begun by that Monster of Mankind, Nero who, to clear himself of the charge of burning Rome endeavored to fix the Crime on the Christians; and having thus fully and tyrannically made them guilty, he put them to Death by various Methods of exquisite Cruelty. But though this was the pretense for this barbarity towards them, yet it evidently appears from undoubted testimonies, that they were before hated upon Account of their Religion, and were therefore; fitter objects of sacrifice to the resentment and fury of the Tyrant. That they were hated for their Crimes. And what these were, he afterwards suffcient1y informs us, by calling their Religion ” an execrable Superstition.” In like manner Suelonius, in his Life of Nero, speaking of the Christians, says, They were a Set of Men who had embraced a new and accursed Superstition. And therefore Tacius farther informs us That those who confess themselves Christians, were condemned not so much for the Crime of burning the City, as for their being hated by all Mankind. So that ’tis evident from these Accounts, that ’twas through popular hatred of them for their Religion, that they were thus sacrificed to the malice and fury of Nero. Many of them he dressed up in the Skins of wild Beasts, that they might be devoured by Dogs. Others he crucified. Some he clothed in Garments of Pitch and burnt them, that at night by their Flames he might supply light in his gardens.
That the Church continued until these Times as a Virgin pure and uncorrupted and proves beyond all Contradiction, that the Persecution raised against them was purely on a religious Account, and not for any Immoralities and Crimes against the Laws, that could be proved against: the Christians, though their Enemies slandered them with the vilest, and hereby endeavored to render them hateful to the whole World. Why, says Tertullian, doth a Christian suffer, but for being, of their Number? Hath any one proved Incest, or Cruelty upon us, during this long space of Time? No; ’tis for our Innocence, Probity, justice, Chastity, Faith, Veracity and for the living God that we are burned alive. Pliny was forced to acquit them from every thing but an unreasonable superstition, i. e. their resolute Adherence to the Faith of Christ. And yet though Innocent in all other respects, when they were brought before his Tribunal he treated them in this unrighteous Manner: He only asked them, Whether they were Christians If they confessed it, he asked them the same Question again and again, adding Threatening to his Questions. If they persevered in their Confession he condemned them to Death, because whatever their Confession might be, he was very sure, that their Stubbornness and inflexible, obstinacy deserved Punishment. So that without being convicted of any Crime, but that of Constancy in their Religion, this equitable Heathen, this rational Philosopher, this righteous Judge, condemns them to a cruel Death. And for this Conduct the Emperor, his Master, commends him. For in answer to Pliny’s Question, whether he should go on to punish the Name itself, though chargeable with no Crimes, or the Crimes only which attended the Name Trajan in his Rescript, after commending Pliny, orders, That if they were accused and convicted of being Christians they Should be put to Death, unless they renounced that Name, and sacrificed to his Gods. Tertullian and Athenagoras, in their Apologies, very justly inveigh with great warmth against this imperial Rescript and indeed, a more shameful piece of Iniquity was never practiced in the darkest Times of Popery. I hope also my Reader will observe, that this was Lay-Persecution, and owed its Rise to the religious Zeal of one of the best of the Roman Emperors, and not only to the Contrivances of cruel and deigning Priests; that it was justified and carried on by a very famous and learned Philosopher, whose Reason taught him, that what he accounted Superstition, if incurable, was to be punished with Death; and that it was managed with great Fury and Barbarity, Multitudes of Persons in the several Provinces being destroyed merely on account of the Christian Name, by various and exquisite Methods of Cruelty.
I shall not trouble my Reader with an Account of this Persecution as carried on by Seven and of the Roman Emperors, but only observe in general, that the most excessive and outrageous Barbarities were made use of upon all who would not blaspheme Christ, and offer Incense to the imperial Gods: They were publicly whipped drawn by the Heels through the Streets of Cities, racked till every Bone of their Bodies was disjointed ; had their Teeth beat out ; their Noses, Hands and Ears cut off; Sharp pointed Spears ran under their Nails ; were tortured with melted Lead thrown on their naked Bodies ; had their Eyes dug out ; their Limbs cut of; were condemned to the Mines; ground between Stones; stoned to Death ; burnt alive ; thrown Headlong from high Buildings ; beheaded; destroyed with Hunger, Thirst and Cold ; thrown to the wild Beasts, broiled on Gridirons with slow Fires ; cast by Heaps into the Seas; crucified ; scraped to Death with sharp Shells torn in Pieces by the Boughs of Trees and, in a Word, destroyed by all the various Methods that the most diabolical Subtlety and Malice could devise.
Christian Persecution
Ecclesiastical Corruption begins.
It must indeed be confessed, that under the latter Emperors who Persecuted Christians, the Simplicity and Purity of the Christian Religion were greatly corrupted, and that Ambition, Pride and Luxury, had too generally prevail both amongst the Pastors and People. Cyprian, who lived under the Decian Persecution, writing concerning it to the Presbyters and Deacons, says, It must be owned and confessed, that this outrageous and heavy Calamity, which hath almost devoured our Flock, and continues to devour it to this Day, hath happened to us because of our Sins, since we keep not the Way of the Lord, nor obverse his heavenly Commands given to us for our Salvation. Though our Lord did the Will of his Father, yet we do not the Will of the Lord. Our principle study is to get money and estates; we follow after pride ; we are not at Leisure for nothing but emulation and Story telling; and have neglected the simplicity of the Faith. We have renounced this world in Words only, and not in deed. Everyone desire to please himself and to displease others. After Cyprian, Eusebuis the Historian gives a sad Account of the degeneracy of Christians about the Time of the Diocletian Persecution : he tells us, That through too much Liberty they grew negligent and slothful, envying and reproaching one another, waging as it were wars, civil Wars between themselves, Bishops quarreling with Bishops, and people divided into parties: that hypocrisy and Deceit were grown to the biggest pitch of wickedness ; that they were become so insensible, as not so much as to think of appeasing Divine Anger, but that, like Atheists they thought the World destitute of any providential Government and care, and thus added one crime to another; that the Bishops themselves had thrown off all care of Religion, were perpetually contending with one another ; and did nothing but quarrel with, and threaten, and envy one another, and hate one another ; were full of Ambition, and tyrannically used their power. This was the deplorable State of the Christian Church, which God, as is well observed, first punished with a gentle Hand; but when they grew hardened and incurable in their Vices, he was pleased to let in the most grievous Persecutions upon them under Diocletian who exceeded in severty and length all that had been before.
Persecutions Among Christians.
If any Person was to judge of the Nature and Spirit of the Christian Religion by the Spirit and Conduct only of too many who have professed to believe it in all Nations, and almost throughout all Ages of the Christian Church, he could scarce fail to censure it as an Institution unworthy of the God of Order and Peace, subversive of the Welfare and Happiness of Societies, and designed to enrich and aggrandize a Few only, at the Expense of the Liberty, Reason, Consciences, Substance, and Lives of others. For what Confusions and Calamities, what Ruins and Desolations, what Rapines and Murders, have been introduced into the World, under the pretended Authority of Jesus Christ, and supporting and propagating Christianity.
It must be allowed by all who know any Thing of the Progress of the Christian Religion, that the first Preachers and Propagators of it used none of these vile Methods to support and spread it. Both their Doctrines and Lives destroy every Suspicion of this Nature; and yet in their Times the beginnings of this Spirit appeared: Diotrephes loved the Preeminence, and therefore would not own and receive the inspired Apostle. We also read, that there were great Divisions and Schisms in the Church. The Primitive Christians seem for many Years generally to have maintained the warmest affection for each ocher, and to have distinguished themselves by their mutual Love, the great Characteristic of the Disciples of Christ. The Gospels, and the Epistles of the Apostles all breath with this amiable Spirit, and abound with Exhortations to cultivate this God-like Disposition. ‘Tis reported of St. John, that in his extreme old Age at Ephesus being carried into the Church by the Disciples, upon account of his great Weakness, he used to say nothing else every Time he was brought there, but this remarkable Sentence, Filioli diligite alterutrum, Little Children love one another, and when some of the Brethren were tired with hearing so often the same thing, and asked him, Sir, Why do you always repeat this Sentence ; he answered with a Spirit worthy an Apostle, ‘Tis the Command of the Lord, and the fulfilling of the Law.” Precepts of this kind so frequently inculcated, could not but have a very good Influence in keeping alive the Spirit of Charity and mutual Love. And indeed the Primitive Christians were so very remarkable for this temper, that they were taken notice of on this very account, and recommended even by their Enemies as Patterns of Beneficence and Kindness.
Ed. note, I have included this lengthy historical account to give the record of events so vital to the development of the Church in its early existence. In good conscience I could not omit this chronicle of events, so I ask the pardon of my readers if I have taxed their attention
But at length, in the second Century, the Spirit of Pride and Domination appeared publicly, and created great Disorders and Schisms amongst Christians. There had been a Controversy of some standing, on what Day Easter Should be celebrated. The African Churches thought that it ought to be kept on the same Day on which the Jews held the Passover, the fourteenth Day of Nisan their first Month, on whatever day of the week it should fall out. The custom of other Churches was different, who kept the Festival of Easter only on that Lord’s Day which was next after the fourteenth of the Moon. This Controversy appears at first View to be of no manner of Importance, as there is no Command in the sacred Writings to keep this Festival at all, much less specifying the particular Day on which it should be celebrated. And is an abundant Proof that the Simplicity of the Christian Faith was departed from, in that Heterodoxy and Orthodoxy were made to depend on Conformity or Non-Conformity to the Modes and Circumstances of certain Things, when there was no Shadow of any Order for the Things themselves in the sacred Writings and that the Lust of Power, and the Spirit of Pride, had too much possessed some of the Bishops of the Christian Church.
‘Tis no wonder that after this we should find Matters growing worse and worse. As the Primitive Christians had any intervals from Persecution they became more profligate in their Morals, and more quarrelsome in their Tempers. As the Revenues of the several Bishops increased they grew more Ambitious, less capable of contradiction, more haughty and arrogant in their Behavior, more envious and revengeful in every part of their Conduct, and more regardless of the Simplicity and Gravity of their Profession and Character. . . they were degenerated from the Piety and peaceable Spirit of many of their Predecessors, and how ready they were to enter into the worst Measures of Persecution, could they but have got the Opportunity and Power.
Under Constantine the Emperor, when they were restored to full liberty, their churches rebuilt, and the imperial Edicts every where published in their favor, they immediately began to discover what spirit they were of ; as soon as ever they had the Temptation of Honor and large revenues before them. Constantine’s Letters are full proof of the Jealousies and Animosities that reigned amongst them.
‘Tis not to be wondered at, that the Persons who advised these Edicts to suppress the ancient Religion of the Heathens, should be against tolerating any other amongst themselves, who Should presume to differ from them in any Articles of the Christian Religion they had espoused; because if erroneous and false Opinions, in Religion, as such, are to be prohibited or punished by the Civil Power, there is equal Reason for persecuting a Christian, whose Belief is wrong, and whole Practice is erroneous, as for persecuting Persons of any other false Religion whatsoever; and the same Temper and Principles that lead to the latter, will also lead to and justify the former. And as the Civil Magistrate, under the direction of his Priests, must always judge for himself what is Truth and Error in Religion, his Laws for supporting the one, and punishing the other, must always be in consequence of this Judgment. And therefore if Constantine and his Bishops were right in prohibiting Heathenism by Civil Laws, because they believed it erroneous and false. By the same Rule every Christian, that hath Power, is in the right to persecute his Christian Brother, whenever he believes him to be in the wrong. And in truth, they seem generally to have acted upon this Principle; for which Party so ever of them could get uppermost was against all Toleration and Liberty for those who differed from them, and endeavored by all Methods to oppress and destroy them. It was in 385 that the first instance was given of judicial capital punishment for heresy, and the horror which it excited shows that it was regarded everywhere as a hideous innovation.
Orthodoxy Established
But though Excommunications upon account of Differences in Opinion, prove that the Bishops had set up for Judges of the Faith, and assumed a Power and Dominion over the Consciences of others, yet as they had no civil Effects, and were not enforced by any penal Laws, they were not attended with any public Confusions, to the open Reproach of the Christian Church.
But when once Christianity was settled by the Laws of the Empire, and the Bishops free to do as they pleased, without any fear of public Enemies to disturb and oppress them, they fell into more shameful and violent Quarrels. These Divisions of the Prelates separated the Christian People together, as they happened to favor their different Leaders; and the Dispute was managed with such Violence, that it soon reached the whole Christian World, and gave Occasion to the Heathens in several Places to ridicule the Christian Religion upon their public theatres.
The Bishops of each side had already interested the People in their Quarrel, and heated them into such a Rage that they attacked and fought with, wounded and destroyed each other, and acted with such Madness as to commit the greatest Impieties for the sake of Orthodoxy ; and arrived to that pitch of Insolence, as to offer great Indignities to the imperial Images. The old Controversy about the Time of celebrating Easter being now revived, added Fuel to the Flames, and rendered their Animosities too furious to be appeased.
Thus the Orthodox faith brought in the Punishment of Heresy with Death, and persuaded the Emperor to destroy those whom they could not easily convert. The Scriptures were now no longer the Rule and Standard of the Christian Faith. Orthodoxy and Heresy were from hence forward to be determined by the Decisions of Councils and Fathers, and Religion to be propagated no longer by the apostolic Methods of Persuasion, Forbearance, and the Virtues of an holy Life, but by imperial Edicts and Decrees and heretical Gainsayers not to be convinced, that they might be brought to the Acknowledgment of the Truth and be saved, but to be persecuted and destroyed.
Yet the spirit of persecution was too repugnant to the spirit of Christ for its triumph to come without a struggle, which can be traced in the writings of the early fathers. Tertullian warmly defends the freedom of conscience; it is irreligious to enforce religion; no one wishes to be venerated unwillingly, so that God may be assumed to desire only the worship which comes from the heart.
The triumph of intolerance was inevitable when Christianity became the religion of the State, yet the slowness of its progress shows the difficulty of overcoming the incongruity between persecution and the gospel. Hardly had orthodoxy been defined by the Council of Nica when Constantine brought the power of the State to bear to enforce uniformity.
It is a curious commentary on theological perversity to learn the watchful energy with which these provisions were enforced to the suppression of heresy while yet the pagan temples and ceremonies remained undisturbed.
Frederic II., in his famous statute of November 22, 1220, which made the persecution of heresy a part of the public law of Europe, only threatened confiscation and outlawry, although this, it must be added, placed their lives at the mercy of the first comer. In his constitution of March, 1224, he went farther and decreed death by fire or loss of the tongue, at the discretion of the judge; and the contemporary practice in Germany left the penalty to be similarly decided. It was not until 1231, in the Sicilian Constitutions, that Frederic rendered the punishment by cremation absolute. This was in force merely in his Neapolitan dominions, and the edict of Ravenna, in March, 1232, while inflicting the death penalty does not prescribe the method; but that of Cremona, in May, 1238, embodied the Sicilian law and thus rendered the fagot and stake the recognized punishment for heresy throughout the empire, as we find it subsequently embodied in both the municipal laws of northern and southern Germany. In Venice, after 1249, the ducal oath of office contained a pledge to burn all heretics. In 1255 Alonso the Wise of Castile decreed the stake for all Christians who apostatized to Islam or to Judaism. In France the legislation adopted by both Louis IX. and Raymond of Toulouse, for carrying out the provisions of the settlement of 1229, is discreetly silent with regard to the penalty of heresy, though under it the use of the stake was universal, and it is not until Louis in 1270, that we find the heretic formally condemned to be burned alive, thus rendering it part of the recognized law of the land, although the terms in which Beaumanoir alludes to it show that it had long been a settled custom. England, which was free from heresy, was even later in adopting it, and it was not until the rise of the Lollards caused fear in both Church and State that the writ “de hceretioo comb’urendo” was created by statute in 1401.
The Pope, the Universal Bishop
Under Mauritius, John Bishop of Constantinople, in a Council held at that city, styled himself Ecumenical Bishop, by the Consent of the Fathers assembled; and the Emperor himself ordered Gregory to acknowledge him in that Character. Gregory absolutely refused it, and replied, that the Power of binding and loosing was delivered to Peter and his Successors, and not to the Bishops of Constantinople; admonishing him to take care, that he did not provoke the Anger of God against himself, by raising Tumults in his Church. This Pope was the first who styled himself, Servant of the Servants of God; and had such an Abhorrence of the Title of Universal Bishop, that he said, I confidently affirm, that whosoever calls himself universal Priest is the forerunner of Antichrist, by thus proudly exalting himself above others.
But however modest Gregory was in refuting and condemning this arrogant Title, Boniface III. thought better of the Matter, and after great struggles, prevailed with Phocas, who murdered Mauritius the Emperor, to declare, that the See of the blessed Apostle Peter, which is the Head of all Churches, should be so called and accounted by all, and the Bishop of it Ecumenical or Universal Bishop. The Church of Constantinople had claimed this Precedence and Dignity, and was sometimes favored herein by the Emperors, who declared, that the first See ought to be in that Place which was the Head of the Empire. The Roman Pontiff’s, on the other hand, affirmed, that Rome, of which Constantinople was but a Colony, ought to be esteemed the Head of the Empire, because the Greeks themselves, in their Writings, style the Emperor, Roman Emperor, and the Inhabitants of Constantinople are called Roman: and not Greeks ; not to mention, that Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, gave the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to his Successors, the Popes of Rome. On this Foundation was the Superiority of the Church of Rome to that of all other Churches built ; and Phocas, who was guilty of all Villainies, was one of the fittest Persons that could be found to gratify Boniface in this Request. Boniface also called a Council at Rome, where this Supremacy was confirmed, and by whom it was decreed, that Bishops should be chosen by the Clergy and People, approved by the Prince of the City, and ratified by the Pope with these Words, For this is our Will and Command. And having wickedly possessed themselves of this unrighteous Power, the Popes as wickedly used it, soon brought almost the whole Christian World into subjection to them and became the Persecutors General of the Church of God ; proceeding from one Usurpation to another, till at last they brought Emperors, Kings, Princes into subjection, forcing them to ratify their unrighteous Decrees, to punish, in the severest Manner, all that should presume to oppose and contradict them, till she became drunken with the Blood of the Saints, and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus. Babylon the great, the Mother of Harlots, Abominations of the Earth.
Image Idolotry
The next Controversy of Importance was relating to the Worship of Images. The Respect due to the Memories of the Apostles and Martyrs of the Christian Church, was gradually carried into great Superstition, and at Length degenerated into downright Idolatry. Not only Churches were dedicated to them, but their Images placed in them, and religious Adoration paid to them. Platina tells us, That amongst many other Ceremonies introduced by Pope Sixtus IlL in the Fifth Century, he persuaded Valentinian the younger, Emperor of the West to beautify and adorn the Churches, and to place upon the Altar of St. Peter, a golden Image of our Savior, enriched with jewels. In the next Century the Images of the Saints were brought in, and religious Worship paid to them. This appears from a Letter of Pope Gregory’s, to the Bishop of Marseilles, who broke in Pieces certain Images, because they had been superstitiously adored. Gregory tells him, I commend you that although a pious Zeal, you would not suffer that which is made with Hands to be adored ; but I blame you for breaking the Images in Piece;. For ’tis one Thing to adore a Picture, and another to learn by the History of the Picture, what is to be adored.
The Power and Wealth of the Church and Clergy
For many Years the World groaned under this antichristian Yoke ; nor were any Methods of Fraud, Imposture and Barbarity left unpracticed to support and perpetuate it. As it grew through the centuries, wealth and power depended upon the obedience of the flock. As the Clergy were Lords of the Universe, they grew wanton and insolent in their Power ; and as they drained the Nations of their Wealth to support their own Grandeur and Luxury, they degenerated into the worst and vilest set of Men that ever burdened the Earth, They were shamefully ignorant, and scandalously vicious ; well versed in the most exquisite Arts of Torture and Cruelty, and absolutely divested of all Bowels a Mercy and Compassion towards those, who even in the smallest Matters differed from the Dictates of their Superstition and Impiety. The infamous Practices of that accursed Tribunal, the inquisition, the Wars against Heretics in the Earldom of Toulouse, the Massacres of Paris and Ireland, the many Sacrifices they have made in Great -Britain, the Fires they have kindled, and the Flames they have lighted up in all Nations, where their Power, hath been acknowledged, witness against them, and demonstrate them to be very Monsters of Mankind. So that one would really wonder, that the whole World has not entered into a Combination, and risen in Arms against so execrable a Set of Men, and extirpated them as savage Beasts, from the Face of the whole Earth ; who, out of a Pretense of Religion, have defiled it with the Blood of innumerable Saints and Martyrs, and made use of the Name of the most holy Jesus, to countenance and sanctify the most abominable Impieties.
Return Home