Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/805

Rh MONTANISM &amp;lt;lown there for a long career of activity, to Christianize the state along all its thoroughfares by imparting to it the word of the gospel, but at the same time leaving it everything ex cept its gods. On the other hand, she furnished herself with everything of value that could be taken over from the world without overstraining the elastic structure of the organiza tion which she now adopted. With the aid of its philosophy she created her new Christian theology ; its polity furnished her with the most exact constitutional forms ; its juris prudence, its trade and commerce, its art and industry, were all taken into her service; and she contrived to borrow some hints even from its religious worship. Thus we find the church in the 3d century endowed with all the resources which the state and its culture had to offer, entering into all the relationships of life, and ready for any compromise which did not affect the confession of her faith. With this equipment she undertook, and carried through, a world- mission on a grand scale. But what of those believers of the old school who protested in the name of the gospel against this secular church, and who wished to gather together a people prepared for their God regardless alike of numbers and circumstances? Why, they joined an enthusiastic movement which had originated amongst a small circle in a remote province, and had at first a merely local importance. There, in Phrygia, the cry for a strict Christian life was reinforced by the belief in a new and final outpouring of the Spirit, a coincidence which has been observed elsewhere in church history, as, for instance, in the Irvingite movement. The wish was, as usual, father to the thought; and thus societies of &quot;spiritual&quot; Christians were formed, which served, especially in times of persecu tion, as rallying-points for all those, far and near, who sighed for the end of the world and the excesses e sxculo, .and who wished in these last days to lead a holy life. These zealots hailed the appearance of the Paraclete in Phrygia, and surrendered themselves to his guidance. In so doing, however, they had to withdraw from the church, to be known as &quot; Montanists,&quot; or &quot; Kataphrygians,&quot; and thus to assume the character of a sect. Their enthusiasm and their prophesyings were denounced as demoniacal ; their expectation of a glorious earthly kingdom of Christ was stigmatized as Jewish, their passion for martyrdom as vainglorious, and their whole conduct as hypocritical. Nor did they escape the more serious imputation of heresy on important articles of faith ; indeed, there was a disposi tion to put them on the same level with the Gnostics. The effect on themselves was what usually follows in such circumstances. After their separation from the church, they became narrower and pettier in their conception of Christianity. The strict rules of conduct which in a former age had been the genuine issue of high-strung religious emotion were now relied on as its source. Their asceticism degenerated into legalism, their claim to a monopoly of pure Christianity made them arrogant. As for the popular religion of the larger church, they scorned it as an adulter ated, manipulated Christianity. But these views found very little acceptance in the 3d century, and in the course of the 4th they died out. Regardless of the scruples of her most conscientious members, and driving the most earnest Christians into secession and the conventicle, the church went on to prosecute her great mission in the world. And before she was able, as church of the state -and of the empire, to call in the aid of the civil power to suppress her adversaries the Montanistic conventicles were .almost extinct. 2. Such is, in brief, the position occupied by Montanism in the history of the ancient church. The rise and progress of the movement were as follows. At the close of the reign of Antoninus Pius probably in the year 156 (Epiphanius) Montanus appeared at Ardaban in Phrygia, bringing revelations of the &quot; Spirit &quot; to Christendom. It is unnecessary to seek an explanation of his appearance in the peculiarities of the Phrygian temperament. The Christian churches had always held that prophecy was to be continued till the return of Christ, although, as a matter of fact, prophets had not been parti cularly numerous. Montanus claimed to have a prophetic calling in the very same sense as Agabus, Judas, Silas, the daughters of Philip, Quadratus, and Ammia, or as Hernias at Rome. At a later time, when the validity of the Mon tanistic prophecy was called in question in the interest of the church, the adherents of the new movement appealed explicitly to a sort of prophetic succession, in which their prophets had received the same gift which the daughters of Philip, for example, had exercised in that very country of Phrygia. The burden of the new prophecy was a more exacting standard of moral obligations, especially with regard to marriage, fasting, and martyrdom. But Mon tanus had larger schemes in view. He wished to organize a special community of true Christians to wait for the coming of their Lord. The small Phrygian towns of Pepuza and Tymion were selected as the headquarters the Jerusalem, as the prophet called them of his church. He spared no effort to accomplish this union of believers. Funds were raised for the new organization, and from these the leaders and missionaries, who were to have nothing to do with worldly life, drew their pay. But the ecstasy of the prophet did not prove so contagious as his preaching. Only two women, Prisca and Maximilla, were moved by the Spirit ; like Montanus, they uttered in a state of frenzy the commands of the Spirit, which spoke through them sometimes as God the Father, sometimes as the Son, and urged men to a strict and holy life. This does not mean that visions and significant dreams may not have been of frequent occurrence in Montanistic circles. But, as chosen and permanent organs of the Paraclete, only three persons were recognized Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla ; by their side, however, Alcibiades and Theo- dotus, from a very early date, played an active part as missionaries and organizers. For twenty years this agitation appears to have been confined to Phrygia and the neighbouring provinces. How could it be otherwise 1 To assemble the whole of Christendom at Pepuza was a rather impracticable pro posal. But after the year 177 a persecution of Christians, from some unexplained causes, broke out simultaneously in many provinces of the empire. Now in these days every persecution was regarded as the beginning of the end. It quickened the conscience, and gave more strength to eschatological hopes ; it was a call to observe the signs of the times and the intimations of God s presence. It would seem that before this time Montanus had disappeared from the scene ; but Maximilla, and probably also Prisca, were working with redoubled energy. And now, through out the provinces of Asia Minor, in Rome, and even in Gaul, amidst the raging of persecution, attention was attracted to this remarkable movement. The desire for a sharper exercise of discipline, and a more decided renuncia tion of the world, combined with a craving for some plain indication of God s will in these last critical times, had prepared many minds for an eager acceptance of the tidings from Phrygia. There the Spirit, whom Christ had promised to His disciples, had begun His work ; there, at least, there were holy Christians and joyful martyrs. The oracles of the Phrygian prophets became household words in distant churches, and it was always the more serious- minded who received them with undisguised sympathy. And thus, within the large congregations where there was so much that was open to censure in doctrine and con stitution and morals, conventicles were formed in order