time, to England, not only as the safest asylum I could fly to, in my present situation, but as a place where I should soon recover my native language, and be usefully employed, as soon as I recovered it, either there or in Scotland. I readily closed with the rector's opinion, being very uneasy in my mind, as my old doubts, in point of religion, daily gained ground, and new ones arose upon my reading (which was my only employment) the books of controversy I found in the library of the college. The place being thus agreed on, and it being at the same time settled between the rector and me, that I should set out on the very next morning, I solemnly promised, at his request and desire, to take no kind of notice, after my arrival in England, of his having been any ways privy to iny flight, or of the general's letter to him. This promise I have faithfully and honourably ob served; aud should have thought myself guilty of the black est ingratitude if I had not observed it, being sensible that, had it been known at Rome, that either the rector or general had been accessary to my flight, the Inquisition would have resented it severely in both. For, though a Jesuit in France, in Flanders, or in Germany, is out of the reach of the Inquisition, the general is not; and the high tribunal not only have it in their power to punish the general himself, who resides constantly at Rome, but may oblige him to inflict what punishment they please on any of the order noxious to them.

The rector went that very night out of town; and in his ab sence, but not without his privity, I took one of the horses of the college, early next morning, as if I were going for change of air, being somewhat indisposed, to pass a few days at Lisle; but, steering a different course, I reached Aire that night, and Calais the next day. I was there in no danger of being stop ped and seized at the prosecution of the Inquisition, a tribunal no less abhorred in France than in England. But, being inforn ed by the general, that the nuncios at the different courts had been ordered, soon after my flight, to cause me to be apprehended in the Roman Catholic countries through which I might pass, as an apostate or deserter from the order, I was under no small apprehension of being discovered and apprehended as such, even at Calais. No sooner, therefore, did I alight at the inn, than I went down to the quay; and there, as I was very Kittle acquainted with the sea, and thought the passage much shorter than it is, I endeavoured to engage some fishermen to carry me that very night, in one of their small vessels over to England. This alarmed the guards of the harbour; and I should have been certainly apprehended, as a person guilty or suspected of some great crime, fleeing from justice, had not Lord Baltimore, whom I had the good luck to meet in the im,

informed me of my danger, and pitying my condition, attended me that moment, with all his company, to the port, and conveyed me immediately on board his yacht. There I lay that night, leaving every thing I had, but the clothes on my back, in the inn; and the next day, his Lordship set me ashore at Dover, from whence I came in the common stage to London.

444

ACCOUNTS OF THE PERSECUTIONS OF CHRIS

TIANS.

The following is an account of the sufferings of Christians, as persecuted by Heathens, Jews, and Roman Catholics.

[Buck's Theological Dictionary.]

Persecutions of the Christians by the Jews. Here we need not be copious, as the New-Testament will inform the reader more particularly how the first Christians suffered for the cause of truth. Jesus Christ himself was exposed to it in the greatest degree. The four evangelists record the dreadful scenes, which need not here be enlarged on. After his death,'the apostles suffered every evil which the malice of the Jews could invent, and their mad zeal execute. They who read the Acts of the Apostles, will find, that like their Master, they were despised and rejected of men, and treated with the utmost indignity and contempt.

Persecutions of Christians by the Heathens. Historians usually reckon ten general persecutions, the first of which was under the emperor Nero, thirty one years after our Lord's ascension, when that emperor, having set fire to the city of Rome, threw the odium of that execrable action on the Christians.— Those were apprehended who openly avowed themselves to be of that sect; then by them were discovered an immense multitude, all of whom were convicted. Their death and tortures were aggravated by cruel derision and sport; for they were either covered with the skins of wild beasts and torn in pieces by devouring dogs, or fastened to crosses, and wrapped up in combustible garments, that, when the day light failed, they might, like torches, serve to dispel the darkness of the night. For this tragical spectacle, Nero lent his own gardens; and exhibited at the same time the public diversions of the circus; sometimes driving a chariot in person, and sometimes standing as a spectator, while the shrieks of women burning to ashes supplied

music for his ears. The second general persecution was under Domitian, in the year 95, when 40,000 were supposed to have suffered martyrdom. The third began in the third year of Trajan, in the year 100, and was carried on with great violence for several years. The fourth was under Antonius, when the Christians were banished from their houses, forbidden to show their heads, reproached, beaten, hurried from place to place, plundered, imprisoned, and stoned. The fifth began in the year 127, under Severus, when great cruelties were committed. In this reign happened the martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, and their companions. Perpetua had an infant at the breast; and Felicitas was just delivered at the time of their being put to death. These two beautiful and amiable young women, mothers of infant children, after suffering much in prison, were exposed before an insulting multitude, to a wild cow, who mangled their bodies in a most horrid manner; after which they were carried to a conspicuous place, and put to death by the sword. The sixth began with the reign of Maximinus, in 235. The seventh which was the most dreadful ever known, began in 250, under the emperor Decius, when the Christians were in all places driven from their habitations, stripped of their estates, tormented with racks, &c. The eighth began in 257, under Valerian. Both men and women suffered death, some by scour ging, some by the sword, and some by fire. The ninth was under Aurelian, in 274; but this was inconsiderable, compared with the others before mentioned. The tenth began in the 19th year of Dioclesian, 303. In this dreadful persecution, which lasted ten years, houses, filled with Christians were set on fire, and whole droves were tied together with ropes, and thrown into the sea. It is related that 17,000 were slain in one month's time; and that during the continuance of this persecution, in the prov ince of Egypt alone, no less than 144,000 Christians died by the violence of their persecutors; besides 700,000 that died through the fatigues of banishment, or the public works to which they were condemned.

Persecution of Christians by those of the same name. merous were the persecutions of different sects from Constantine's time to the reformation; but when the famous Martin Luther arose, and opposed the errors and ambition of the church of Rome, and the sentiments of this good man began to spread, the pope and his clergy joined all their forces to hinder their progress. A general council of the clergy was called: this was the famous council of Trent, which was held for near eighteen successive years, for the purpose of establishing popery in greater splendour, and preventing the reformation. The friends to the reformation were anathematized and excommunicated, and the