P. Gardner has pointed out three common characteristics, all of which bring them into line with Christianity : rites of purifica- tion, rites of communion with some deit}-, and means of secur- ing- happiness in the other world. He holds that the Christian mystery of which St. Paul speaks is 'the existence of a spiritual bond holding together a society in union with a spiritual lord with whom the society had communion, and from whom they received in the present life safety from sin and defilement, and in the world to come life everlasting' (The Religious Experience of St. Paul, London, 1911, p. 79).
8. Relation to the State and other systems. —
The question of the relation of the Church to the State was only beginning to arise towards the end of the apostolic period. The Church was develop- ing its organization for its own purposes, without thinking of producing a power which might rival and oppose the State. The State had not yet be- come aware of any Christian organization, and it dealt with Christians as eccentrics, who sometimes became a jjublic nuisance. The Jews were toler- ated, less because they were not ott'ensive to the Roman Government than because itwas inexpedient to persecute them ; and so long as Christians were regarded as a Jewish sect, they shared the immun- ity of the Jews and were generally unmolested. When the difference between Jews and Christians became manifest — and the Jews often pointed it out— Christians were persecuted Avhenever the temper of the magistrates or of the mob made it expedient to persecute. The State was intolerant on principle ; it allowed no other corporation either inside or outside itself. While it freely permitted a variety of cults, it insisted on every citizen tak- ing part in the State religion, especially in the worship of the Emperor. It was here that the Church came into complete and deadly collision with the Roman Empire, as the Apocalypse again and again shows. Nero was not fond of being styled a god ; it seemed to imply that he was about to be translated from earth by death, and he pre- ferred popularity during this life to worship after it was over. Domitian had no such feeling. He was not popular, and could not make himself so; but he could make his subjects worship him ; and in the provinces, especially in the province of Asia, where Emperors were not often seen, but where the benefits of good government were felt, subjects were very willing to render Divine honours to the power that blessed them. Domitian began the formal letters which his procurators had to issue for him with the words : ' Our Lord and God orders this to be done' (Suet. Dom. 13). Festivals for the worship of the Emperor were often held by the magistrates at places in which there were Chris- tians, e.g. at Ephesus, Sardis, Smyrna, and Phila- delphia ; and to refuse to take part in them was rebellion against the Government and blasphemy against the Augustus. Some magistrates were friendly, like the Asiarchs towards St. Paul (Ac 19^'), but the possibilities of persecution for refus- ing to worship the Emperor or the local deities were so great that we may suspect that many attacks on Cliristians took place about which history records nothing (Swete, Apocalypse, London, 1907, Introd. cli. vii. ; J, B. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, pt. L vol. i. [1890] p. 104).
CHURCH
CHURCH gover:n^mext
209
Even if this danger had not existed, the mere fact that the Church was a self-governing body, within tlie State — iniperium in impeTio — but not of it, was enough to bring it into collision with the Government. The attitude of the Church was as loyal as was possible. The apostles respected the civil power, even when represented by a Nero, as a Divinely appointed instrument for the preservation of order; but they could not allow it to interfere M'ith their duty to Him who had ordained both the civil power and the Church. The Church was no leveller or democrat in the modern sense of those terms. Rulers are to be respected by subjects, masters by slaves, husbands by wives, and parents by children. St. Paul does not teach the fallacy that all men are equal ; he teaches that in spiritual things all souls have equal value. As regards the things of this life, all men are brethren, and in this he went far beyond Stoicism ; even now, perhaps, we have not yet grasped the full significance of his teach- ing. To both the Government and the governed the Christians were an enigma. They seemed to regard sufiering as a dreadful thing, for they were always striving to relieve it ; and yet to disregard it entirely, for they were always willing to endure it. In an age in which there were no charitable in- stitutions, the whole congregation was a free insti- tution for dispensing practical help ; and yet, Avhen their cult was in question, they scorned pain and misery. They fought against involuntary poverty as an evil, and yet declared that voluntary poverty was a blessing. And there was another paradox — Christianity was at once the most comprehensive and the most exclusive of all religions. All were invited to enter, because the yoke was so easy ; and all were warned to count the cost, because the responsibilities were so great. Converts were told tliat they must begin by taking up the cross and that they must abjure the world. In practice, the severance between the Church and the world was not insisted upon (1 Co 6'") : it was a difference of tliought and life rather than of social intercourse. Many Christians mixed freely with heathens, and many heathens came sometimes to Christian ser- vices, without any thought of seeking baptism. Some heathens thought that the Way was good, but that there were other ways which were equally good. Tlie mixture of Church and world began very early.