In considering the causes which led to the persecution of the Church by the heathen around her, we must, of course, place first as the root and ground of all, the malice of Satan, and his hatred of God, and of the means appointed by God for saving souls. Satan's enmity the great cause of persecution. The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan must ever be at war, and the fierce and varied sufferings inflicted by the cruel heathen on all who bore the name of Christ were so many assaults of the great adversary seeking to overthrow the Church in an open and deadly struggle. But the life-giving Presence of her Incarnate Lord, and "the patience and the faith of the Saints," were mightier weapons than "all the fiery darts of the Wicked," and "the gates of Hell" were not suffered to "prevail against her."
Other minor causes.
There were, however, other and secondary causes which led to the persecution of the Church. The Romans were not usually intolerant of religions which they did not themselves profess; their worship of their own false gods had come to be a form, as far as the educated classes were concerned, and what belief they had was given to philosophy rather than religion. Hence they were not unwilling that the nations they conquered should keep to their own respective creeds and religious ceremonies, so long as they did not interfere with Roman authority. But the religion of Christ required more than this. It could not be confined to any one country, nor be content with bare toleration, nor rank itself with the many forms of Pagan misbelief. It claimed to be the only True Religion, the only Way of Salvation, before which the superstitions of the ignorant, and the philosophy of the learned must alike give way. It made its way even into "Caesar's household." Besides this, Christians, owing to the nationality of the First Founders of the Church, were often confounded with, and called by the same name as the Jews, who had a bad repute under the empire for rebellious and seditious conduct, and we know how, even in the days of St. Paul, the charge of sedition had begun to be most unjustly fastened upon the followers of the Meek and Lowly Jesus. This charge of disaffection to the powers of the state received an additional and plausible colouring from the fact that the consciences of the faithful members of the Church would not suffer them to pay, what they and the heathen around them considered to be Divine honour, to the emperor or the heathen deities, by sacrificing a few grains of incense when required thus to show their loyalty to their ruler and his faith. Over and over again was this burning of incense made a test by which to discover Christians or to try their steadfastness, and over and over again was its rejection followed by agonizing tortures and a cruel death.
Nero's persecution.
The persecution in the reign of Nero is immediately traceable to the accusation brought against the Christians by the emperor, that they had caused the terrible fire at Rome, which there seems little doubt was in reality the result of his own wanton wickedness, whilst that under Domitian appears to have been connected with the conversion of some of the members of his own family, his cousin Flavius Clemens being the first martyr sacrificed in it.
Section 2. Number and Duration of Persecutions.
The following table[2] will show how the early days of the Church were divided between times of persecution and intervals of rest.
Chronological Table of Persecutions and Intervals of Rest.
A.D.
64-68. Persecution under Nero. Martyrdom of
St. Peter and St. Paul.
68-95. Time of peace.
95-96. Persecution under Domitian. Banishment of
St. John.
96-104. Time of peace.
104-117. Persecution under Trajan. Martyrdom of
St. Ignatius.
117-161. Time of peace. Apologies of Aristides,
Quadratus, and Justin Martyr.
161-180. Persecution under Marcus Aurelius. Martyrdom
of St. Polycarp, and the martyrs of Lyons.
180-200. Time of peace.
200-211. Persecution under Severus. Martyrdom of
St. Perpetua and others in Africa.
211-250. Time of peace, excepting--
235-237. Partial persecution under Maximinus.
250-253. Persecution under Decius. Martyrdom of
St. Fabian.
253-257 Time of peace. Disputes concerning the lapsed.
257-260. Persecution under Valerian. Martyrdom of
St. Cyprian.
260-303. Time of peace, excepting--
262. Persecution in the East under Macrianus.
275. Persecution threatened by Aurelian.
303-313. Persecution under Dioclesian, Galerius, and
Maximinus.