Arius the Libyan: A Romance of the Primitive Church

by Nathan C. Kouns

"Certainly so," persisted Am-nem-hat, "but in what respect was it sacrilegious for him to desire to use the power for his own purposes, any more than it would have been to use his brain, or his hand, for his own advancement; or his learning, or skill, for the acquisition and cultivation of which he had, perhaps, expended money?"

"The answer to thy question," replied Ammonius, "involves some consideration of the very genius of Christianity as a system of divine truth. If, as thou seemest to suppose, the religion of our Lord had been only a system of spiritual truth, it might be difficult to deny that the apostles were selfish, and that Simon was very badly treated. But this is not at all true. Thou knowest that the legislation of Moses was for the Israelites only; that of Egypt for the land and people of Kem only; that of other lands and ages for certain peoples only. But thou canst not have read the scriptures so carefully without learning the fact that Jesus died for all men, and that his truth is designed for all mankind. Thou seest, therefore, that, if Simon Magus could have obtained this power to exercise it for his own purposes, he would have made it the agency by which to gain limitless authority and wealth unto himself, and oppress the poor. Thou seest also that, if any nation or government could exercise thaumaturgical powers, that nation or government would soon become the ruler and the tyrant of the world. Thou seest that, if any church that is in any way connected with, or bound unto, an earthly government, could exercise this power, ecclesiasticism would quickly make mankind its slaves: for manifestly no people could long resist a government that had thaumaturgical power wherewith to enforce obedience to its laws. Thou seest also that if the faith that is effective for miracles could be exercised for any purposes except the edification of the Church and the good of all men, the faith itself might have become a nameless and unappealable tyranny. Nay, if it were ever possible to exercise such power except under such conditions as necessarily and absolutely to preclude the use of it for any private purposes, thou seest that sooner or later, under the influence of inborn selfishness, the thaumaturgists would have made war upon each other, and, in place of seeing nations contending with sword, and bow, and spear, we would have seen them hurling against each other all of the destructive forces of nature, and only chaos and utter ruin could have ended the superhuman strife. It was therefore ordained that the thaumaturgic faith can not be exercised except under conditions which necessarily exclude the use of it for private purposes, and insure its exercise for the good of the common Church only."

"Canst thou specify by what means this restricted use of the power hath been enforced? For it seemeth to me that, if it exists, it must be beyond control."

"In order to exclude all worldly ambitions and selfishness from the kingdom which he established in the world, our Lord ordained that his Church should be a community in which all men are free and equal--brethren only. Hence he ordained, as the fundamental law of the kingdom, that all private rights of property (including estates, rank, offices, prerogatives) should be forever abolished in his Church, and that Christians should hold them all in common. Hence, the kingdom of heaven is an absolute democracy, social and political, based upon faith in Christ, and community of rights and property among all who believe. Of this community the apostles themselves were the divinely appointed type. They used thaumaturgy for the common good only, and not for personal aggrandizement. The common treasure was put into a bag, and, as if to show the divine scorn of wealth and of all human distinctions that grow out of it, the bag was intrusted to Judas, the only base one of the twelve. It was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, because the law of that kingdom imperatively required the consecration of all that he had to the common good. But, under the power of a living faith, many complied with this law, and the Church prospered. Thus did the bishops that were ordained by the apostles, as Linus at Rome, Polycarp at Smyrna, Evodius at Antioch, and others also. Thus did Paulinus, Cyprian, Hilary, and others. Such has been the law and practice of the common Church even unto this day. For the primary law of the kingdom of heaven demandeth the consecration of all property, and the abdication of all worldly honors, offices, and authority. And Simon Magus desired not part or lot in this kingdom, but his own advantage only. And thou must perceive that thaumaturgical power exercised by such a church must necessarily be for the common good of all, and not for any personal, political, or sectarian purposes; and the faith that worketh wonders must therefore be impossible to any human association except to the church organized upon the foundation which Jesus himself laid, even the communion of the holy; for the liberty, fraternity, and equality, which constitute the socialism and politics of the kingdom, can not exist upon any other foundation. And, of course, thaumaturgic power will vanish even out of the Church if the day shall ever come in which those who believe shall abandon the communal organization of the kingdom of heaven, and establish human statutes as the law thereof."

"I think," said Am-nem-hat, "that thy words remove many of the difficulties which have beset my study of thy sacred books. For I now perceive that the parables of Jesus--a species of literary composition unknown, perhaps impossible, to other men--which I supposed to refer to some spiritual, mystical doctrines, were in fact spoken concerning his Church, or kingdom, in this world."

"Assuredly so," replied Ammonius. "And thou hast done well to characterize the parable as 'a species of literary composition unknown and impossible to other men'; for no other man hath written a parable, nor do I suppose that any man ever will do so. For he spake as never man spake: he spake in parables; without a parable he spake not. The history, the poem, the fable, the allegory, may be used by other teachers also; but the parable is the language of Jesus alone; and no man can handle it but himself."

"I can now understand that strange parable of 'the unjust steward,'" said Am-nem-hat, "although, when I first read the words, 'I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations,' I did even suppose that Jesus represented eternal life to be a vendible thing, and that his religion, like every other, assured the rich that they could purchase salvation with money--although this seemed to be antagonistic to the general current of his teachings."

"Verily," replied Ammonius, "the words of Jesus would convey no other meaning, if, indeed, the fundamental law of the Church had not excluded therefrom all the private wealth, honors, and authority after which the Gentiles seek. But, if thou wilt consider that the unjust steward is any believer that useth his means, pecuniary, intellectual, physical, for his own aggrandizement, and not for the common good; that the Lord of that steward is Jesus; that unrighteous mammon is wealth held by private ownership, and that the true riches is wealth held by common title for the good of all--thou canst then understand how, even upon ceasing to be steward (the end of life), one may make amends for past selfishness and mammon-worship, by giving up his property to the common Church. Thou canst understand how it is just that those who come in even at the eleventh hour to work in his vine-yard shall have an equal reward with those who entered early and bore the heat and burden of the day. Thou wilt see that it is true that those who gave up houses and lands for his sake and the gospel's reaped manifold more 'now in this present life' by gaining a communal title in the property of all other believers--an increase which our Lord expressly promises as to all the interests and relationships of life, except as to the wife; for, while, if one leave houses, lands, father, mother, brother, sister, or children, for the gospel's sake, the severed interests and relationships are replaced a hundred-fold by his admission into the kingdom of heaven, monogamic marriage was and is the law of the Church. And thou canst thus give a practical and beautiful meaning to all that our Lord hath said and done; thou wilt see that the social and political system of the gospel is the only kingdom that can ever banish crime, hatred, and selfishness out of human life, and so regenerate the world; thou wilt see that the Scribes and Pharisees persecuted our Lord because his kingdom excluded war, slavery, private-property rights, estates, rank, offices, prerogatives--of all which things they were 'covetous'--just as the Romans and all other established governments persecute the Christians, even unto this day, for the same reasons. For Christ desireth the brotherhood of men; the liberty and equality of men; and that the average talents, energy, and prosperity of all may insure the common weal; and not that some shall be emperors, lords, and masters, whereby it cometh to pass that many must be slaves; not that some be inordinately rich, and others distressfully poor."

"I will read the gospels and the Acts again in the light of thine instructions," said Am-nem-hat. "But, verily, many passages thereof already come crowding into my mind that bear new and potent meanings; for I perceive clearly enough that Christianity is not only a system of spiritual truth, but also of social and political truth, that is founded upon the faith, and from that basis assaulteth selfishness in its strong citadel of private rights by elevating the common good into a higher thing than private aggrandizement, and separating the people of his kingdom from all personal honors, prerogatives, and wealth, after which the Gentiles seek."

"Thou wilt perceive this all the more clearly," said Ammonius, "if thou wilt reread the gospels with this thought in thy mind; for thou wilt at once perceive that many passages, which in any other view would seem strongly tainted with fanaticism, or rhapsody, or demagoguery, are precisely the things which Jesus ought to have said if his kingdom was, indeed, a social and political democracy founded upon faith and community of rights and property. For the Jews, who supposed that our Lord would overturn the Roman authority and establish a great Israelitish nation instead thereof, were not any more in error than are those who falsely suppose that he would establish no kingdom at all, and that he taught only spiritual truth, as do the Therapeutæ."