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I. PREFACE.
1. It is unjust to condemn the
Christian religion unheard and unknown (ch. i).
We are denied the rights of ordinary
criminals, and the use of torture is most inconsistently employed in our case.
The mere name of 'Christian' is made
criminal (ch. 2).
The blindness of your hatred
over-reaches itself and involuntarily eulogizes us (ch. 3).
2. We propose to refute and retort
every charge you bring against us; but first let us examine the nature of the
laws under which we are condemned (ch. 4). They are to be traced to an ancient
decree, and to the rescripts of the worst emperors (ch. 5). But your ancient
decrees are perpetually being ignored by yourselves, both as regards personal
and social questions, as well as religious restrictions (ch. 6).
II. REFUTATION OF THE PRINCIPAL
ACCUSATIONS.
i. Secret crimes.
We are accused of infamous secret
atrocities,—infanticide, a feast of blood, and incest; though no proof has ever
been forthcoming, and only rumour is responsible for the charge (ch. 7).
Whereas natural instinct would revolt from such crimes, and the burdened
conscience of one unwittingly led to perpetrate them would be intolerable (ch.
8).
You yourselves are guilty of
sacrificing children and adults in your worship of various deities, and of
eating blood in several loathsome rites and horrible repasts; [xii] whereas your knowledge of our
horror of eating blood is evidenced by the tests which you apply to us. Incest,
too, is one of your commonest crimes (ch. 9).
ii. Open crimes.
I. Sacrilege.
We are accused of Sacrilege and
Disloyalty to the emperor.
We shall prove that your gods are no
gods, for they once were men (ch. 10); and no reasons exist for their
subsequent deification, since their aid in Nature is, and always has been,
unnecessary, while their gross immoralities would rather condemn them to
Tartarus than raise them to Heaven (ch. II).
Your gods are nothing but names of
dead men, and images made of the commonest materials, which you treat with the
same indignities that you heap upon us (ch. 12). In fact, you act most
sacrilegiously towards your gods, whether private or public (ch. 13); for you
cheat them in your sacrifices, and mock them in your poetic and philosophic
literature (ch. 14). You insult them in your burlesques and at your theatres
(ch. 15).
You hold grotesque views respecting
our Deity. We neither worship an ass's head, nor the Cross, nor the Sun, nor a
biformed monstrosity resembling some of your gods (ch. 16).
We worship one God, the Omnipotent
and Invisible Creator, to Whom Nature and the human soul bear witness (ch. 17),
Who hath given us a revelation of Himself through Scriptures and Prophets,
whose writings are open to all (ch. 18). The antiquity of these writings proves
their trustworthiness; for they are more ancient than your oldest records (ch.
19); and their majesty and divinity are proved by the daily fulfilment of their
predictions (ch. 20). [xiii]
We worship the same God as the Jews,
but, Unlike them, we acknowledge Christ, the Son of God, to be God. He is the
True Word, Reason, and Power of God, Who, begotten eternally by His Father, and
being Co-essential with Him was made Flesh. The Jews misunderstood His Advent,
His Work, and His Doctrine. They put Him to death, but He rose from the dead, as
was predicted, and after forty days ascended into Heaven. Meanwhile His gospel
is being spread throughout the world by His disciples (ch. 21).
We, with your philosophers, assert
the existence of daemons, spiritual beings of malefic power, who falsely claim
to be divine (ch. 22). These daemons and your gods are identical, as their own
confession when confronted by a Christian will prove. Further, you may learn
from them Who is the True God. Our dominion over them is derived from the power
of Christ (ch. 23).
Your charge of sacrilege thus falls
to the ground, for there can be no religious duties towards gods that have no
existence. In any case, we claim the civil right of religious liberty, which
you grant to every one but us (ch. 24).
You assert that Roman prosperity is
due to Roman piety. Yet your chief deities are foreigners, who once reigned on
earth, and therefore must some time have worshipped your earliest deities.
Besides, your elaborate piety is of later growth than your prosperity, which
has in reality been advanced by your impieties (ch. 25).
All rule and sovereignty are in the
gift of the One God Who is above all (ch. 26).
Your animosity against us is incited
by daemoniacal agency (ch. 27).
2. Disloyalty.
You are driven by the same evil influence
to [xiv] force us to sacrifice for the
emperor's welfare. This we refuse to do, and are therefore accused, secondly,
of Disloyalty to Caesar (ch. 28).
The gods are the creatures of
Caesar, and cannot therefore have his welfare in their keeping (ch. 29).
We offer for Caesar's welfare
prayers and true sacrifices to the True God, in Whose hands alone it is (ch.
30). And our prayers for him are no pretence, but part of our bounden religious
duty (ch. 31), and rendered necessary by our belief that the continuance of the
Roman Empire delays the end of the world (ch. 32).
We are in fact far more truly loyal
than you are; for we recognize the Divine will in the appointment of the
Caesars, although we refuse to acknowledge the divinity of the Caesars
themselves (ch. 33).
'Lord' is no proper title of Caesar,
but belongs to God (ch. 34). Yet we are called 'public enemies ' because we
refuse to join in your useless acts of worship and disgraceful festivities. The
real traitors are always found amongst yourselves, whether in the lower or
higher ranks of society (ch. 35). We are necessarily well-disposed to every man
whether Caesar or neighbour (ch. 36).
We are forbidden to retaliate,
otherwise we might easily take our revenge, either by secret means, or as open
enemies, or even by merely withdrawing from your midst, and leaving you
defenceless against the attacks of the daemons (ch. 37). The Christian society
ought to be recognized by the law, since it is a harmless and unambitious
association (ch. 38).
III. REFUTATION OF MINOR CHARGES.
1. The purposes of our assembly are
pious, pure, and charitable. Our well-known love for each other is [xv] blamed, and our simple 'love-feast'
denounced as extravagant (ch. 39).
2. Our existence is supposed to
provoke the gods to send calamities and disasters upon the empire; yet such
occurrences happened before the rise of Christianity. Your very gods, too,
suffer in the calamities which are supposed to come from them. In reality, the
presence of the Christians has mitigated the violence of God's judgements upon
the world (ch. 40); for these judgements are attributable to your misdeeds (ch.
41).
3. You accuse us of worthlessness to
trade,—a charge which is sufficiently refuted by our habits of life (ch. 42).
We are certainly profitless to the bad, but this is a real gain (ch. 43).
The real loss to the state, which is
involved in your injustice to us, is overlooked (ch. 44).
Our ethical standard is far higher
and more awe-inspiring than yours (ch. 45).
4. Our sect is regarded as a school
of philosophy; yet you refuse us the licence allowed to philosophers. Really we
differ from the philosophers both in the extent and definiteness of our
knowledge, and in our moral standard (ch. 46).
Philosophers have derived their
wisdom from our Scriptures, which they distorted; and they have vainly
speculated on subjects not revealed. Heretics, similarly, have distorted the
New Testament; and many of our doctrines have been anticipatorily counterfeited
by the agency of evil spirits (ch. 47).
The philosophical speculation on the
transmigration of souls is admitted, but our doctrine of the resurrection of
the body scouted; although Nature illustrates it, and the mystery of our
present existence forbids a hasty rejection of our belief respecting the
future. On this subject Revelation must suffice (ch. 48). [xvi]
IV. CONCLUSION.
Why do you censure us for holding
tenets which are at least harmless, if not positively beneficial (ch. 49)?
Our sufferings are our glory and
triumph. How is it that in your view our endurance redounds to our discredit,
while the fortitude of others meets with your approbation? You may gain
popularity by your injustice, but our sufferings and practical example
continually attract new converts (ch. 50).
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