e Mosaic
law for those who attempted to seduce the Jews to follow new
gods was death. If a man was secretly enticed to such new
worship, he must kill the seducer, even if the seducer were
brother, son, daughter, wife, or friend. (Deut. xiii.)

Trajan's rescript is extant. He approved of the governor's judgment in
the matter, but he said that no search must be made after the
Christians; if a man was charged with the new religion and convicted, he
must not be punished if he affirmed that he was not a Christian, and
confirmed his denial by showing his reverence to the heathen gods. He
added that no notice must be taken of anonymous informations, for such
things were of bad example. Trajan was a mild and sensible man; and both
motives of mercy and policy probably also induced him to take as little
notice of the Christians as he could, to let them live in quiet if it
were possible. Trajan's rescript is the first legislative act of the
head of the Roman state with reference to Christianity, which is known
to us. It does not appear that the Christians were further disturbed
under his reign. The martyrdom of Ignatius by the order of Trajan
himself is not universally admitted to be an historical fact.[A]

[A] The Martyrium Ignatii, first published in Latin by
Archbishop Usher, is the chief evidence for the circumstances
of Ignatius' death.

In the time of Hadrian it was no longer possible for the Roman
government to overlook the great increase of the Christians and the
hostility of the common sort to them. If the governors in the provinces
were willing to let them alone, they could not resist the fanaticism of
the heathen community, who looked on the Christians as atheists. The
Jews too, who were settled all over the Roman Empire, were as hostile to
the Christians as the Gentiles were.[A] With the time of Hadrian begin
the Christian Apologies, which show plainly what the popular feeling
towards the Christians then was. A rescript of Hadrian to Minucius
Fundanus, the Proconsul of Asia, which stands at the end of Justin's
first Apology,[B] instructs the governor that innocent people must not
be troubled, and false accusers must not be allowed to extort money from
them; the charges against the Christians must be made in due form, and
no attention must be paid to popular clamors; when Christians were
regularly prosecuted and convicted of illegal acts, they must be
punished according to their deserts; a