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I do not think, indeed, that what some have thought or may think is
rashly said or believed, that until the time of Antichrist the Church
of Christ is not to suffer any persecutions besides those she has
already suffered, that is, ten, and that the eleventh and last shall
be inflicted by Antichrist. They reckon as the first that made by
Nero, the second by Domitian, the third by Trajan, the fourth by
Antoninus, the fifth by Severus, the sixth by Maximin, the seventh
by Decius, the eighth by Valerian, the ninth by Aurelian the tenth
by Diocletian and Maximian. For as there were ten plagues in Egypt
before the people of God could begin to go out, they think this is to
be referred to as showing that the last persecution by Antichrist must
be like the eleventh plague, in which the Egyptians, while following
the Hebrews with hostility, perished in the Red Sea when the people
of God passed through on dry land. Yet I do not think persecutions
were prophetically signified by what was done in Egypt, however nicely
and ingeniously those who think so may seem to have compared the two in
detail, not by the prophetic Spirit, but by the conjecture of the
human mind, which sometimes hits the truth, and sometimes is
deceived. But what can those who think this say of the persecution in
which the Lord Himself was crucified? In which number will they put
it? And if they think the reckoning is to be made exclusive of this
one, as if those must be counted which pertain to the body, and not
that in which the Head Himself was set upon and slain, what can they
make of that one which, after Christ ascended into heaven, took place
in Jerusalem, when the blessed Stephen was stoned; when James the
brother of John was slaughtered with the sword; when the Apostle
Peter was imprisoned to be killed, and was set free by the angel;
when the brethren were driven away and scattered from Jerusalem; when
Saul, who afterward became the Apostle Paul, wasted the Church;
and when he himself, publishing the glad tidings of the faith he had
persecuted, suffered such things as he had inflicted, either from the
Jews or from other nations, where he most fervently preached Christ
everywhere? Why, then, do they think fit to start with Nero, when
the Church in her growth had reached the times of Nero amid the most
cruel persecutions; about which it would be too long to say anything?
But if they think that only the persecutions made by kings ought to be
reckoned, it was king Herod who also made a most grievous one after
the ascension of the Lord. And what account do they give of Julian,
whom they do not number in the ten? Did not he persecute the Church,
who forbade the Christians to teach or learn liberal letters? Under
him the elder Valentinian, who was the third emperor after him, stood
forth as a confessor of the Christian faith, and was dismissed from
his command in the army. I shall say nothing of what he did at
Antioch, except to mention his being struck with wonder at the freedom
and cheerfulness of one most faithful and steadfast young man, who,
when many were seized to be tortured, was tortured during a whole day,
and sang under the instrument of torture, until the emperor feared lest
he should succumb under the continued cruelties and put him to shame at
last, which made him dread and fear that he would be yet more
dishonorably put to the blush by the rest. Lastly, within our own
recollection, did not Valens the Arian, brother of the foresaid
Valentinian, waste the catholic Church by great persecution
throughout the East? But how unreasonable it is not to consider that
the Church, which bears fruit and grows through the whole world, may
suffer persecution from kings in some nations even when she does not
suffer it in others! Perhaps, however, it was not to be reckoned a
persecution when the king of the Goths, in Gothia itself, persecuted
the Christians with wonderful cruelty, when there were none but
catholics there, of whom very many were crowned with martyrdom, as we
have heard from certain brethren who had been there at that time as
boys, and unhesitatingly called to mind that they had seen these
things? And what took place in Persia of late? Was not persecution
so hot against the Christians (if even yet it is allayed) that some
of the fugitives from it came even to Roman towns? When I think of
these and the like things, it does not seem to me that the number of
persecutions with which the Church is to be tried can be definitely
stated. But, on the other hand, it is no less rash to affirm that
there will be some persecutions by kings besides that last one, about
which no Christian is in doubt. Therefore we leave this undecided,
supporting or refuting neither side of this question, but only
restraining men from the audacious presumption of affirming either of
them.
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