HEATHEN TESTIMONY.

“O, small shall seem all sacrifice

And pain and loss,

When God shall wipe the weeping eyes,

For suffering give the victor’s prize,

The crown for cross!”

                                            – Whittier.

     PLINY, the younger, was born in Italy in A. D. 62.He was praetor under the Emperor Domitian, and Consul under Trajan. He was sent by the latter into Pontus and Bithynia as governor.

     About the year 167, Pliny wrote the following letter to the Emperor Trajan. We give the translation of Dr. Nathaniel Lardner:

     “Pliny to the Emperor Trajan wisheth health and happiness.

     “It is my constant custom, sir, to refer myself to you in all matters concerning which I have any doubt, for who can better direct me where I hesitate, or instruct me where I am ignorant? I have never been present at any trials of Christians; so that I know not well what is the subject matter of punishment, or of inquiry, or what strictness ought to be used in either. Nor have I been a little perplexed to determine whether any difference ought to be made upon account of age, or whether the young and tender, and the full-grown and robust, ought to be treated all alike: whether repentance should entitle to pardon, or whether all who have once been Christians ought to be punished, though they are now no longer so; whether the name itself although no crimes be detected, or crimes only belonging to the name ought to be punished. Concerning all these things I am in doubt.

     “In the meantime I have taken this course with all who have been brought before me, and have been accused as Christians. I have put the question to them, whether they were Christians. Upon their confessing to me that they were, I repeated the question a second and a third time, threatening also to punish them with death. Such as still persisted, I ordered away to be punished; for it was no doubt with me, whatever might be the nature of their opinion, that contumacy, and inflexible obstinacy, ought to be punished. There were others of the same infatuation, whom, because they are Roman citizens, I have noted down to be sent to the city.

     “In a short time, the crime spreading itself, even whilst under persecution, as is usual in such cases, divers sorts of people came in my way. An information was presented to me without mentioning the author, containing the names of many persons, who upon examination denied that they were Christians, or had ever been so; who repeated after me an invocation of the gods, and with wine and frankincense made supplication to your image, which for that purpose I have caused to be brought and set before them, together with the statues of the deities. Moreover, they reviled the name of Christ. None of which things, as is said, they who are really Christians can by any means be compelled to do. These, therefore, I thought proper to discharge.

     “Others were named by an informer, who at first confessed themselves Christians, and afterwards denied it. The rest said they had been Christians, but had left them; some three years ago, and some longer, and one, or more, above twenty years. They all worshiped your image, and the statues of the gods; these also reviled Christ. They affirmed that the whole of their fault, or error, lay in this, that they were wont to meet together on a stated day before it was light, and sing among themselves alternately, a hymn to Christ, as a God, and bind themselves by an oath, not to the commission of any wickedness but not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor to deny a pledge committed to them, when called upon to return it. When these things were performed, it was their custom to separate, and then to come together again to a meal, which they ate in common, without any disorder; but this they had forborne, since the publication of my edict, by which, according to your commands, I prohibited assemblies.

     “After receiving this account I judged it the more necessary to examine, and that by torture, two maidservants, which were called ministers. But I have discovered nothing, beside a bad and excessive superstition.

     “Suspending, therefore, all judicial proceedings, I have recourse to you for advice; for it has appeared unto me a matter highly deserving consideration, especially upon account of the great number of persons who are in danger of suffering. For many of all ages, and every rank, of both sexes likewise, are accused, and will be accused. Nor has the contagion of this superstition seized cities only, but the lesser towns, also, and the open country. Nevertheless, it seems to me that it may be restrained and corrected. It is certain that the temples, which were almost forsaken, begin to be more frequented. And the sacred solemnities, after a long intermission, are revived. Victims likewise are everywhere bought up, whereas for some time there were few purchasers. Whence it is easy to imagine what numbers of men might be reclaimed, if pardon were granted to those who shall repent.”

     So writes Pliny. We are now to observe the Emperor’s rescript.

     “Trajan to Pliny wisheth health and happiness.

     “You have taken the right method, my Pliny, in your proceedings with those who have been brought before you as Christians; for it is impossible to establish any one rule that shall hold universally. They are not to be sought for. If any are brought before you, and are convicted, they ought to be punished. However, he that denies his being a Christian, and makes it evident in fact, that is, by supplicating to our gods, though he be suspected to have been so formerly, let him be pardoned upon repentance. But in no case of any crime whatever, may a bill of information be received without being signed by him who presents it; for that would be a dangerous precedent, and unworthy of my government.”

     There are many things in this letter of Pliny of great importance.

     1. It shows the great influence that Christianity was already exerting upon the minds of the people. The temples of the gods were almost forsaken. Christianity spread so rapidly that it was called a contagion. It affected alike cities and towns and the open country.

     2. It is a striking testimony to the purity of the character of these Christians. Though their enemies, to justify their treatment of them, accused them of gross crimes, a strict investigation resulted in finding that their lives were blameless and their adherence to the doctrines and morals of the Gospel firm and unwavering. They bound themselves by an oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor to deny a pledge committed to them, when called upon to return it.

     3. It shows that they held to the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ. They sang hymns to Christ as a God.

     4. But the point to which I wish to call particular attention is the fact that the Ministers of this church were women. This is seen – 1. In Pliny’s express statement, “which were called ministers.” That women are meant is perfectly clear in the Latin word, ministrae, which is in the feminine gender. That this word is not used to designate their condition is plain; for that is expressed by the word ancillis – maid servants. 2. He would naturally examine the officers of the church.

     Here is a governor possessed of arbitrary power. A hated, despised society is charged with secretly holding pernicious doctrines, and practicing abominable rites.

     The governor is determined to go to the root of the matter, and ascertain the truth in the case. He examines witnesses in the usual way, and finds out nothing to their disadvantage. He now determines to adopt the last resort known to ancient despots, and to examine by torture. But who shall he examine? Who would he naturally select as being in possession of all the secrets of the society?

     Evidently those who occupy the highest position in the society, who understand all its mysteries, and are acquainted with all its doings – its officers or teachers. So, too, when Pliny says that these two women were called ministers, he uses the term minister in the sense in which the Christians understood it – in the ecclesiastical sense. He does not himself call them “ministers;” if he did, it might be claimed that he uses the word in its secular sense, “a female attendant or assistant,” though in the classics it is sometimes used to denote a “ministress at religious worship.” But Pliny says, “they are called ministers,” that is, by the Christians.

     Nothing is said in this letter about bishops, or elders or deacons, or any other church officers.

     It is not to be supposed that a man of Pliny’s ability and learning, and discrimination would give his Emperor a carefully prepared description of a Christian church and make no mention of its officers or teachers. And he certainly does not unless these women were officers or teachers, or, as they were called, ministers.

     Women, it seems, could be ministers of the church at this early age, while it was poor and persecuted, but afterwards, when it became rich and popular, they were set aside.