Chapter 14 Part 4 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Chapter 14. Six emperors at the same time. Reunion of the Empire. Part 4. The Plain of Mardia in Thrace was the theatre of a second battle no less obstinate and bloody than the former. The troops on both sides displayed the same valour and discipline, and the victory was once more decided by the superior abilities of Constantine, who directed a body of five thousand men to gain an advantageous height from whence during the heat of the action they attacked the rear of the enemy and made a very considerable slaughter. The troops of Likinius, however, presenting a double front, still maintained their ground till the approach of night put an end to the combat and secured their retreat towards the mountains of Macedonia. The loss of two battles and of his bravest veterans reduced the fierce spirit of Likinius to sue for peace. His ambassador, Mistriannus, was admitted to the audience of Constantine. He expatiated on the common topics of moderation and humanity, which are so familiar to the eloquence of the vanquished, represented in the most insinuating language that the event of the war was still doubtful, whilst its inevitable calamities were alike pernicious to both the contending parties, and declared that he was authorised to propose a lasting and honourable peace in the name of the two emperors his masters. Constantine received the mention of valence with indignation and contempt. It was not for such a purpose, he sternly replied, that we have advanced from the shores of the western ocean in an uninterrupted course of combats and victories, that after rejecting an ungrateful kinsman we should accept for our colleague a contemptible slave. The abdication of valence is the first article of the treaty. It was necessary to accept this humiliating condition, and the unhappy valence after a reign of a few days was deprived of the purple and of his life. As soon as this obstacle was removed the tranquillity of the Roman world was easily restored. The successive defeats of Likinius had ruined his forces, but they had displayed his courage and abilities. His situation was almost desperate, but the efforts of despair are sometimes formidable, and the good sense of Constantine preferred a great and certain advantage to a third trial of the chance of arms. He consented to leave his rival, or as he again styled Likinius his friend and brother, in the possession of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, but the provinces of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Dacia, Macedonia and Greece were yielded to the western empire, and the dominions of Constantine now extended from the confines of Caledonia to the extremity of Peloponnesus. It was stipulated by the same treaty that three royal youths, the sons of emperors, should be called to the hopes of succession. Crispus and the young Constantine were soon afterwards declared Caesar's in the west, while the younger Likinius was invested with the same dignity in the east. In this double proportion of honours the conqueror asserted the superiority of his arms and power. The reconciliation of Constantine and Likinius, though it was embittered by resentment and jealousy, by the remembrance of recent injuries and by the apprehension of future dangers, maintained, however, above eight years the tranquillity of the Roman world. As a very regular series of the imperial laws commences about this period, it would not be difficult to transcribe the civil regulations which employed the leisure of Constantine. But the most important of his institutions are intimately connected with the new system of policy and religion, which was not perfectly established till the last and peaceful years of his reign. There are many of his laws which, as far as they concern the rights and property of individuals and the practice of the bar, are more properly referred to the private than to the public jurisprudence of the empire, and he published many edicts of so local and temporary a nature that they would ill-deserve the notice of a general history. Two laws, however, may be selected from the crowd, the one for its importance, the other for its singularity, the former for its remarkable benevolence, the latter for its excessive severity. The horrid practice so familiar to the ancients of exposing or murdering their newborn infants was become every day more frequent in the provinces and especially in Italy. It was the effect of distress and the distress was principally occasioned by the intolerant burden of taxes and by the vexatious as well as cruel prosecutions of the officers of the revenue against their insolvent debtors. The less opulent or less industrious part of mankind, instead of rejoicing in an increase of family, deemed it an act of paternal tenderness to release their children from the impending miseries of a life which they themselves were unable to support. The humanity of Constantine, moved perhaps by some recent and extraordinary instances of despair, engaged him to address an edict to all the cities of Italy and offwards of Africa, directing immediate and sufficient relief be given to those parents who should produce before the magistrates the children whom their own poverty would not allow them to educate. But the promise was too liberal and the provision too vague to effect any general or permanent benefit. The law, though it may merit some praise, served rather to display than to alleviate the public distress. It still remains an authentic monument to contradict and confound those venal orators who were too well satisfied with their own situation to discover either vice or misery under the government of a generous sovereign. The laws of Constantine against rapes were dictated with very little indulgence for the most amiable weaknesses of human nature since the description of that crime was applied not only to the brutal violence which compelled but even to the gentle seduction which might persuade an unmarried woman under the age of 25 to leave the house of her parents. The successful ravisher was punished with death and as if simple death was inadequate to the enormity of his guilt he was either burned alive or torn in pieces by wild beasts in the amphitheatre. The Virgin's declaration that she had been carried away with her own consent instead of saving her lover exposed her to share his fate. The duty of a public prosecution was entrusted to the parents of the guilty or unfortunate maid and if the sentiments of nature prevailed on them to disemble the injury and to repair by a subsequent marriage the honour of the family they were themselves published by exile and confiscation. The slaves whether male or female who were convicted of having been accessory to rape or seduction were burnt alive or put to death by the ingenious torture of pouring down their throats a quantity of melted lead. As the crime was of a public kind the accusation was permitted even to strangers. The commencement of the action was not limited to any term of years and the consequences of the sentence were extended to the innocent offspring of such an irregular union. But whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment the rigor of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind. The most odious parts of this edict were softened or repealed in the subsequent rains and even Constantine himself very frequently alleviated by partial acts of mercy at the stern temper of his general instructions. Such indeed was the singular humour of that emperor who showed himself as indulgent and even remiss in the execution of his laws as he was severe and even cruel in the enacting of them. It is scarcely possible to observe a more decisive symptom of weakness either in the character of the prince or in the constitution of the government. The civil administration was sometimes interrupted by the military defence of the empire. Crispus, a youth of the most amiable character who had received with the title of Caesar the command of the Rhine, distinguished his conduct as well as Valar in several victories over the Franks and Alemani and taught the barbarians of that frontier to dread the eldest son of Constantine and the grandson of Constantius. The emperor himself had assumed the more difficult and important province of the Danube. The Goths, who in the time of Claudius and Aurelian had felt the weight of the Roman arms had respected the power of the empire even in the midst of its in-testine divisions. But the strength of that warlike nation was now restored by a piece of near fifty years. A new generation had arisen who no longer remembered the misfortunes of ancient days. The Sarmatians of Lake Myotis followed the Gothic standard either as subjects or as allies and their united force was poured upon the countries of Illyricum. Campona, Margus and Benonia appear to have been the scenes of several memorable sieges and battles and though Constantine encountered a very obstinate resistance he prevailed at length in the contest and the Goths were compelled to purchase an eagerness retreat by restoring the booty and prisoners which they had taken. Nor was this advantage sufficient to satisfy the indignation of the emperor. He resolved to chastise as well as to repulse the insolent barbarians who had dared to invade the territories of Rome. At the head of his legions he passed the Danube after repairing the bridge which had been constructed by Trajan, penetrated into the strongest recesses of Dacia and when he had inflicted a severe revenge condescended to give peace to the suppliant Goths on condition that, as often as they were required, they should supply his armies with a body of forty thousand soldiers. Exploits like these were no doubt honourable to Constantine and beneficial to the state but it may surely be questioned whether they can justify the exaggerated assertion of Eusebius that all Scythia, as far as the extremity of the north, divided as it was into so many names and nations of the most various and savage manners had been added by his victorious arms to the Roman Empire. In this exalted state of glory it was impossible that Constantine should any longer endure a partner in the Empire. Confiding in the superiority of his genius and military power he determined, without any previous injury, to exert them for the destruction of Likinius whose advanced age and unpopular vices seemed to offer a very easy conquest. But the old Emperor, awakened by the approaching danger, deceived the expectations of his friends as well as of his enemies. Calling forth that spirit and those abilities by which he had deserved the friendship of Galerius and the Imperial Purple he prepared himself for the contest, collected the forces of the East and soon filled the plains of Hadrianople with his troops and the straits of the Hellespont with his fleet. The army consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand foot and fifteen thousand horse and as the cavalry was drawn for the most part from Phrygia and Cappadocia we may conceive a more favourable opinion of the beauty of the horses than of the courage and dexterity of their riders. The fleet was composed of three hundred and fifty galleys of three ranks of oars. A hundred and thirty of these were furnished by Egypt and the adjacent coast of Africa. A hundred and ten sailed from the ports of Phrygia and the Isle of Cyprus and the maritime countries of Bithynia, Ionia and Caria were likewise obliged to provide a hundred and ten galleys. The troops of Constantine were ordered to a rendezvous at Thessalonica. They amounted to above a hundred and twenty thousand horse and foot. Their emperor was satisfied with their martial appearance and his army contained more soldiers, though fewer men than that of his eastern competitor. The legions of Constantine were levied in the warlike provinces of Europe. Action had confirmed their discipline, victory had elevated their hopes and there were among them a great number of veterans who, after seventeen glorious campaigns under the same leader, prepared themselves to deserve an honourable dismission by a last effort of their valour. But the naval preparations of Constantine were in every respect much inferior to those of Likinius. The maritime cities of Greece sent their respective quotas of men and ships to the celebrated harbour of Piraeus and their united forces consisted of no more than two hundred small vessels. A very feeble armament if it is compared with those formidable fleets which were equipped and maintained by the Republic of Athens during the Peloponnesian War. Since Italy was no longer the seat of government the naval establishments of Mycenum and Ravenna had been gradually neglected and as the shipping and mariners of the empire were supported by commerce rather than war it was natural that they should the most abound in the industrious provinces of Egypt and Asia. It is only surprising that the Eastern Emperor, who possessed so great a superiority at sea should have neglected the opportunity of carrying an offensive war into the centre of his rival's dominions. Instead of embracing such an active resolution which might have changed the whole face of the war the prudent Likinius expected the approach of his rival in a camp near Hadrianople which he had fortified with anxious care that betrayed his apprehension of the event. Constantine directed his march from Thessalonica towards that part of Thrace till he found himself stopped by the broad and rapid stream of the Hebrus and discovered the numerous army of Likinius which filled the steeper scent of the hill from the river to the city of Hadrianople. Many days were spent in doubtful and distant skirmishes but at length the obstacles of the passage and of the attack were removed by the intrepid conduct of Constantine. In this place we might relate a wonderful exploit of Constantine which, though it can scarcely be paralleled either in poetry or romance is celebrated not by a venal orator devoted to his fortune but by an historian the partial enemy of his fame. We are assured that the valiant emperor threw himself into the river Hebrus accompanied only by twelve horsemen and that by the effort or terror of his invincible arm he broke, slaughtered and put to flight a host of a hundred and fifty thousand men. The credulity of Zosimus prevailed so strongly over his passion that among the events of the memorable battle of Hadrianople he seems to have selected and embellished not the most important but the most marvellous. The valour and danger of Constantine are attested by a slight wound received in the thigh but it may be discovered even from an imperfect narration and perhaps a corrupted text that the victory was obtained no less by the conduct of the general than by the courage of the hero. That a body of five thousand archers march round to occupy a thick wood in the rear of the enemy whose attention was diverted by the construction of a bridge and that Likinius, perplexed by so many artful evolutions was reluctantly drawn from his advantageous post to combat on equal ground on the plain. The contest was no longer equal. His confused multitude of new levies was easily vanquished by the experienced veterans of the west. Thirty-four thousand men are reported to have been slain. The fortified camp of Likinius was taken by assault the evening of the battle. The greater part of the fugitives who had retired to the mountains surrendered themselves the next day to the discretion of the conqueror and his rival, who could no longer keep the field confined himself within the walls of Byzantium. The siege of Byzantium, which was immediately undertaken by Constantine, was attended with great labour and uncertainty. In the late civil wars the fortifications of that place so justly considered as the key of Europe and Asia had been repaired and strengthened, and as long as Likinius remained master of the sea the garrison was much less exposed to the danger of famine than the army of the besiegers. The naval commanders of Constantine were summoned to his camp and received his positive orders to force the passage of the helispond. As the fleet of Likinius, instead of seeking and destroying their feeble enemy, continued inactive in those narrow straits where its superiority of numbers was of little use or advantage. Crispus, the emperor's eldest son, was entrusted with the execution of this daring enterprise which he performed with so much courage and success that he deserved the esteem and most probably excited the jealousy of his father. The engagement lasted two days and in the evening of the first the contending fleets after a considerable and mutual loss retired into their respective harbours of Europe and Asia.  A hundred and thirty vessels were destroyed, five thousand men were slain and Amandus, the admiral of the Asiatic fleet escaped with the utmost difficulty to the shores of Calcedon. As soon as the helispond was open a plentiful convoy of provisions flowed into the camp of Constantine who had already advanced the operations of the siege. He constructed artificial mounds of earth of an equal height with the ramparts of Byzantium. The lofty towers which were erected on that foundation galled the besieged with large stones and darts from the military engines and the battering rams had shaken the walls in several places. If Likinius persisted much longer in the defence he exposed himself to be involved in the ruin of the place. Before he was surrounded he prudently removed his person and treasures to Calcedon in Asia and as he was always desirous of associating companions to the hopes and dangers of his fortune he now bestowed the title of Caesar on Martinianus who exercised one of the most important offices of the empire. Such were still the resources and such the abilities of Likinius that after so many successive defeats he collected in Bethenia a new army of fifty or sixty thousand men while the activity of Constantine was employed in the siege of Byzantium. The vigilant emperor did not, however, neglect the last struggles of his antagonist. A considerable part of his victorious army brought it over the Bosporus in small vessels and the decisive engagement was fought soon after their landing on the heights of Chrysopolis or as it is now called, of Scutari. The troops of Likinius, though they were lately raised, ill-armed and worse disciplined made head against their conquerors with fruitless but desperate valor till a total defeat and a slaughter of five and twenty thousand men irretrievably determined the fate of their leader. He retired to Nicomedia rather with the view of gaining some time for negotiation than with the hope of any effectual defence. Constantia, his wife and the sister of Constantine interceded with her brother in favour of her husband and obtained from his policy rather than from his compassion a solemn promise confirmed by an oath that after the sacrifice of Martinianus and the resignation of the purple Likinius himself should be permitted to pass the remainder of this life in peace and affluence. The behaviour of Constantia and her relation to the contending parties naturally recalls the remembrance of that virtuous matron who was the sister of Augustus and the wife of Antony. But the temper of mankind was altered and it was no longer esteemed infamous for a Roman to survive his honour and independence. Likinius solicited and accepted the pardon of his offences, laid himself and his purple at the feet of his lord and master, was raised from the ground with insulting pity, was admitted the same day to the imperial banquet and soon afterwards was sent away to Thessalonica which had been chosen for the place of his confinement. His confinement was soon terminated by death and it is doubtful whether a tumult of the soldiers or a decree of the senate was suggested as the motive for his execution. According to the rules of tyranny he was accused of forming a conspiracy and of holding a reasonable correspondence with the barbarians but as he was never convicted either by his own conduct or by any legal evidence we may perhaps be allowed from his weakness to presume his innocence. The memory of Likinius was branded with infamy. His statues were thrown down and by a hasty edict of such mischievous tendency that it was almost immediately corrected all his laws and all the judicial proceedings of his reign were at once abolished. By this victory of Constantine the Roman world was again united under the authority of one emperor 37 years after Diocletian had divided his power and provinces with his associate Maximian. The successive steps of the elevation of Constantine from his first assuming the purple at York and the designation of Likinius ethnic media have been related with some minuteness and precision not only as the events are in themselves both interesting and important but still more as they contributed to the decline of the empire by the expense of blood and treasure and by the perpetual increase as well of the taxes as of the military establishment. The foundation of Constantinople and the establishment of the Christian religion are the immediate and memorable consequences of this revolution. End of Chapter 14 Part 4 Chapter 15 Part 1 of the Decline of Fall of the Roman Empire Part 1 This is the LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Chapter 15 The progress of the Christian religion and the sentiments, manners, numbers and condition of the primitive Christians ceremonies, arts and festivals A candid but rational inquiry into the progress and establishment of Christianity may be considered as an essential part of the history of the Roman Empire While that great body was invaded by open violence or undermined by slow decay a pure and humble religion gently insinuated itself into the minds of men grew up in silence and obscurity grew vigor from opposition and finally erected the triumph and banner of the cross on the ruins of the capital Nor was the influence of Christianity confined to the period or to the limits of the Roman Empire After a revolution of 13 or 14 centuries that religion is still professed by the nations of Europe the most distinguished portion of humankind in arts and learning as well as in arms By the industry and zeal of the Europeans it has been widely diffused to the most distant shores of Asia and Africa and by the means of their colonies has been firmly established from Canada to Chile and a world unknown to the ancients But this inquiry, however useful or entertaining is attended with two peculiar difficulties The scanty and suspicious materials of ecclesiastical history seldom enable us to dispel the dark cloud that hangs over the first age of the church The great law of impartiality too often obliges us to reveal the imperfections of the uninspired teachers and believers of the gospel And to a careless observer their faults might seem to cast a shade on the faith which they professed But the scandal of the pious Christian and the fallacious triumph of the infidel should cease as soon as they recollect not only by whom but likewise to whom the divine revelation was given The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing religion as she descended from heaven arrayed in her native purity A more melancholy task is imposed on the historian He most discovered the inevitable mixture of air and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon earth among a weak and degenerate race of beings Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable a victory over the established religions of the earth To this inquiry an obvious but satisfactory answer may be returned that it was owing to the convincing truth of the doctrine itself and to the ruling providence of its great author But as truth and reason seldom find so favorable reception in the world and as the wisdom of providence frequently condenses to use to passions of the human heart and the general circumstances of mankind as instruments to execute its purpose We may still be permitted though with becoming submission to ask not indeed what were the first but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth of the Christian church It will perhaps appear it was most effectually favored and assisted by the five following causes One the inflexibility and if we may use the expression the intolerant zeal of the Christians derived it is true from the Jewish religion but purified from the narrow and unsocial spirit which instead of inviting had deterred the Gentiles from embracing the law of Moses Two the doctrine of a future life improved by every additional circumstance which could give weight and efficacy to that important truth Three the miraculous powers subscribed to the primitive church Four the pure and austere morals of the Christians Five the union and discipline of the Christian Republic which gradually formed an independent and increasing state of the Roman Empire One we have already described the religious harmony of the ancient world and the faculty with which the most different and even hostile nations embraced or at least respected each other's superstitions A single people refused to join in the common intercourse of mankind The Jews who under the Assyrian and Persian monarchies had languished for many ages the most despised portion of their slaves emerged from obscurity under the successors of Alexander and as they multiplied to a surprising degree in the east and afterwards in the west they soon excited the curiosity and wonder of other nations The sullen obscenity with which they maintained their peculiar rights and unsocial manners seemed to mark them out a distinct species of men who boldly professed or have faintly disguised their implacable hatred to the rest of humankind Neither the violence of Antiochus nor the arts of Herod nor the example of the circumjacent nations could ever persuade the Jews to associate with the institutions of Moses the elegant mythology of the Greeks According to the maxims of universal toleration the Romans protected a nation a superstition which they despised The polite Augustus condescended to give orders that sacrifices should be offered to his prosperity in the temple of Jerusalem While the meanest are the posterity of Abraham who should have paid the same homage to the Jupiter of the capital would have been an object of abhorrence to himself and to his brethren But the moderation of the conquerors was insufficient to appease the jealous prejudices of their subjects who were alarmed and scandalized at the ensigns of paganism which necessarily introduced themselves into a Roman province The mad attempt of Caligula to place his own statue in the temple of Jerusalem was defeated by the unanimous resolution of a people who dreaded death much less than such in an adulterous profanation Their attachment to the law of Moses was equal to their detestation of foreign religions The current of zeal and devotion as it was contracted into a narrow channel ran with the strength and sometimes with the fury of a torrent This inflexible perseverance which appeared so odious or so ridiculous to the ancient world assumes a more awful character since Providence is deigned to reveal to us the mysterious history of the chosen people But the devout even scrupulous attachment to the mosaic religion so conspicuous among the Jews who lived under the second temple becomes still more surprising if it is compared with the stubborn incredulity of their forefathers when the law was given in thunder from Mount Sinai when the tides of the ocean and the course of the planets were suspended for the convenience of the Israelites when the temporal rewards and punishments were the immediate consequences of their piety or disobedience relapsed into rebellion against the visible majesty of their divine king placed the idols of the nations in the sanctuary of Jehovah and imitated every fantastic ceremony that was practiced in the tents of the Arabs or in the cities of the Phoenicians As the protection of heaven was deservedly withdrawn from the ungrateful race their faith acquired a proportionate degree of vigor and purity The contemporaries of Moses and Joshua had be held with careless indifference the most amazing miracles Under the pressure of every calamity the belief of those miracles has preserved the Jews of the later period from the universal contagion of idolatry and in contradiction to every known principle of the human mind that singular people seems to have yielded a stronger and more ready assent to the traditions of the remote ancestors and then to the evidence of their own senses The Jewish religion was admirably fitted for defense but it was never designed for conquest and it seems probable that the number of proselytites was never much superior to that of apostates The divine promises were originally made and the distinguishing right of circumcision was enjoined to a single family When the posterity of Abraham had multiplied like the sands of the sea the deity from whose mouth they received a systems of laws and ceremonies declared himself the proper and as it were the national god of Israel and with the most jealous care separated his favorite people from the rest of mankind The conquest of the land of canon was accompanied with so many wonderful and with so many bloody circumstances that the victorious Jews were left in a state of irreconcilable hostility with all of their neighbors They had been commanded to extirpate some of the idolatrous tribes and the execution of the divine will had seldom been retarded by the weakness of the community With the other nations they were forbidden to contract any marriages or alliances and the prohibition of receiving them into the congregation which in some cases was perpetual almost always extended to the third to the seventh and even to the tenth generation The obligation of preaching to the Gentiles the faith of Moses had never been inculcated as a precept of the law nor will the Jews inclined to impose it on themselves as a voluntary duty In the admission of new citizens that unsocial people was actuated by the selfish vanity of the Greeks rather than the generous policy of Rome The descendants of Abraham were flattered by the opinion that they alone were the heirs of the Covenant and they were apprehensive of diminishing the value of their inheritance by sharing it too easily with the strangers of the earth A larger acquaintance with mankind extended their knowledge without correcting their prejudices and if a strict obedience had been paid to the order that every male three times in a year should present himself before the Lord Jehovah it would have been impossible that the Jews could ever spread themselves beyond the narrow limits of the Promised Land That obstacle was indeed removed from the Church of Christ from the Church of Christ from the Church of Christ from the Church of Christ from the Church of Christ from the Church of Christ That obstacle was indeed removed by the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem but the most considerable part of the Jewish religion was involved in its destruction and the pagans who had long wondered at the strange report of an empty sanctuary were at a loss to discover what could be the object or what could be the instruments of a worship which was destitute of temples and of altars, of priests and of sacrifices Yet even in their fallen state the Jews still asserting their lofty exclusive privileges shunned instead of courting the society of strangers They still insisted with inflexible rigor on those parts of the law which was in their power to practice Their peculiar distinctions of days, of meats and a variety of trivial though burdensome observances were so many objects of disgust and aversion for the other nations to whose habit and prejudices they were diametrically opposed The painful and even dangerous right of circumcision was alone capable of repelling a willing proselytite from the door of the synagogue Under these circumstances Christianity offered itself to the world armed with the strength of the Mosaic law and delivered from the weight of its fetters An exclusive zeal for the truth and religion and the unity of God was as carefully inculcated in the new as in the ancient system and whatever was now revealed to mankind concerning the nature and designs of the supreme being was fitted to increase their reverence for that mysterious doctrine The divine authority of Moses and the prophets was admitted and even established by the firmest basis of Christianity From the beginning of the world an uninterrupted series of predictions had announced and prepared the long expected coming of the Messiah who in compliance with the grossed apprehensions of the Jews had been more frequently represented under the character of a king and conqueror than under that of a prophet a martyr and the son of God By his expiatory sacrifice the imperfect sacrifices of the temple were at once consummated and abolished The ceremonial law which consisted only of types and figures was succeeded by a pure and spiritual worship equally adapted to all climates as well as to every condition of mankind and to the initiation of blood was substituted a more harmless initiation of water The promise of divine favor instead of being partially confined to the austerity of Abraham was universally proposed to the free man and the slave to the Greek and to the barbarian to the Jew and to the Gentile Every privilege which could raise the proselytite from earth to heaven that could exalt his devotion secure his happiness or even gratify that secret pride which under the sepulance of devotion insinuates itself into the human heart was still reserved for the members of the Christian church which was permitted or even solicited to accept the glorious distinction which was not only preferred as a favor but imposed as an obligation it became the sacred duty of a new convert to diffuse among his friends and relations the blessing which he had received and to warn them against a refusal which would be punished as a criminal disobedience to the will of a benevolent but all-powerful deity End of Chapter 1, Part 15 Chapter 15, Part 2 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The enfranchisement of the church from the bonds of the synagogue was a work however of some time and of some difficulty The Jewish converts who acknowledged Jesus in the character of the Messiah foretold by their ancient oracles respected him as a prophetic teacher of virtue and religion but they obstinately adhered to the ceremonies of their ancestors and were desirous from posing them on the Gentiles who continually augmented the number of believers These Judaizing Christians seem to have argued with some degree of plausibility from the divine origin of the Mosaic law and from the immutable perfections of its great author They affirmed that if the being who is the same through all eternity had designed to abolish those sacred rites which had served to distinguish its chosen people the repeal of them would have been no less clear and solemn than his first promulgation That, instead of those frequent declarations which either suppose or assert the perpetuity of the Mosaic religion it would have been represented as a provisionary scheme intended to last only till the coming of the Messiah who should instruct mankind in a more perfect mode of faith and of worship That, the Messiah himself would have published to the world the abolition of these useless and obsolete ceremonies without suffering Christianity to remain during so many years obscurely confounded among the sects of the Jewish church Arguments like these appear to have been used in the defense of the expiring cause of the Mosaic law But the industry of our learned vines have abundantly explained the ambiguous language of the Old Testament that the Mosaic law would have been used in the ambiguous language of the Old Testament and the ambiguous conduct of the apostolic teachers It was proper gradually to unfold the system of the Gospels and to pronounce with the utmost caution and tenderness a sentence of condemnation so repugnant to the inclination and prejudices of the believing Jews The history of the Church of Jerusalem affords a lively proof of the necessity of these precautions and of the deep impression which the Jewish religion had made on the minds of its sectaries The first 15 bishops of Jerusalem were all circumcised Jews and the congregation over which they presided united the law of Moses with the doctrine of Christ It was natural that the primitive tradition of the Church which founded only 40 years after the death of Christ was governed almost as many years under the immediate inspection of his apostle should be received as the standard of orthodoxy The distant churches very frequently appealed to the authority of their venerable parent and relieved her distresses by a liberal contribution of alms But when numerous and opulent societies were established in the great cities of the empire in Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus Corinth and Rome the reverence which Jerusalem had inspired to all Christian colonies insensibly diminished The Jewish converts or as they were afterwards called the Nazarenes who had laid the foundations of the Church soon found themselves overwhelmed by the increasing multitudes that from all the various religions of polytheism enlisted under the banner of Christ In the Gentiles who with the approbation of the peculiar apostle had rejected the intolerable weight of mosaic ceremonies a length refused to their more scrupulous brethren the same toleration which at first they had humbly solicited for their own practice The ruin of the temple of the city and of the public religion of the Jews were severely felt by the Nazarenes As in their manners though not in their faith they maintained so intimate a connection with their impious countrymen whose misfortunes were attributed by the pagans to the contempt and more justly ascribed by the Christians to the wrath of the supreme deity The Nazarenes retired from the ruins of Jerusalem to the little town of Pella beyond the Jordan where that ancient church languished above 60 years in solitude and obscurity and enjoyed the comfort of making frequent and devout visits to the holy city in the hope of being one day restored to those seeds which both nature and religion taught them to love as well as to revere But at length, under the reign of Hadrian the desperate fanaticism of the Jews filled up the measure of their calamities and the Romans, exasperated by their repeated rebellions exercised the rights of victory with unusual rigor The new emperor founded under the name Priya Kapalatina a new city of Mount Sion on which he gave the privileges of a colony and denouncing the severest penalties against any of the Jewish people who should dare to approach its precincts he fixed a vigilant garrison of a Roman cohort to enforce the execution of his orders The Nazarenes had only one way left to escape the common prescription and the force of truth was on this occasion assisted by the influence of temporal advantages They elected Marcus for their bishop a prelate of the race of the Gentiles and more probably a native either of Italy or of some Latin provinces At his persuasion the most considerable portion of the congregation renounced the Mosaic Law in the progress of which they had persevered above a century By this sacrifice of their habits and prejudices they purchased a free admission into the colony of Hadrian and more firmly cemented their union with the Catholic Church When the name and honors of the Church of Jerusalem had been restored to Mount Sion the crimes of heresy and schism were imputed to the obscure remnant of the Nazarenes which refused to accompany their Latin bishop They still preserved their former habitation of Pella, spread themselves into the villages adjacent to Damascus and formed an inconsiderable church in the city of Borea or as it is now called of Aleppo in Syria The name of Nazarenes was deemed too honorable for these Christian Jews and they soon received from the supposed poverty of their understanding as well as their condition the contemptuous epitaph of Ebonites In a few years after the return of the Church of Jerusalem it became a matter of doubt and controversy whether a man who sincerely acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah but who still continued to observe the Law of Moses could possibly hope for salvation The humane temper of Justin Marder inclined him to answer this question in the affirmative Though he expressed himself with the most guarded diffidence, he ventured to the determine in favor of such an imperfect Christian if he were content to practice the mosaic ceremonies without pretending to assert their general use or necessity But when Justin was pressed to declare the sentiments of the Church he professed that there were very many among the Orthodox Christians who not only excluded their Judaizing brethren from the hope of salvation but reclined any intercourse with them in the common offices of friendship, hospitality, and social life The more rigorous opinion prevailed as it was natural to expect over the milder and an external bar of separation was fixed between the disciples of Moses and those of Christ The unfortunate Ebonites rejected from one religion as apostates and from the other as heretics found themselves compelled to assume a more decided character Although some traces of that opposite sect may be discovered as late as the 4th century they insensibly melted either into the Church or the synagogue While the Orthodox Church preserved just medium between excessive veneration and improper contempt for the law of Moses the various heretics deviated into equal but opposite extremes of error and extravagance From the acknowledged truth of the Jewish religion the Ebonites had concluded that it could never be abolished From its supposed imperfections the Gnostics has hastily inferred that it was never instituted by the wisdom of the deity There are some objections against authority of Moses and the prophets which too readily present themselves to the skeptical mind Though they can only be derived from our ignorance of remote antiquity and from our incapacity to form inadequate judgment of the divine economy These objections were eagerly embraced and as petulently urged by the vain science of the Gnostics As these heretics were for the most part adverse to the pleasures of sense they morosely arraigned the polygamy of the patriarchs, the gallantries of David and the surreagligo of Solomon The conquest of the land of Canon and the extirpation of the unsuspected natives they were at a lost how to reconcile with the common notions of humanity and justice But when they recollected the single area list of horrors of executions and of massacres which stain almost every page of the Jewish annals they acknowledged that the barbarians of Palestine had exercised as much compassion towards their idolatrous enemies as they had ever shown to their friends and countrymen Passing from the sectaries of the law to the law itself, they asserted that it was impossible that a religion which consisted only of bloody sacrifices of trifling ceremonies whose rewards as well as punishments for all of the carnal and temporal nature of the love of virtue or restrain the impetuosity of passion The mosaic account of the creation of all of man was treated with profane derision by the Gnostics who would not listen with patience to the repose of the deity after six days labor to the rib of Adam the garden of Eden the trees of life and of knowledge the speaking serpent the forbidden fruit and the condemnation pronounced against humankind for the venal offenses of their first progenitors the God of Israel was impiously represented by the Gnostics as being liable to passion to air capricious in his favor implacableness resentment mainly jealous of his superstitious worship and confining his partial providence to a single people and to this transitory life in such a character they could discover none of the features of the wise and omnipotent father of the universe they allowed that the religion of the Jews was somewhat less criminal than the idolatry of the Gentiles but it was their fundamental doctrine that the Christ whom they adored is the first and brightest emanation of the deity appeared upon earth to rescue mankind from their various errors and to reveal a new system of truth and perfection the most learned of the fathers by a very singular condescension have imprudently admitted the sophistry of the Gnostics acknowledging that the literal sense is repugnant to every principle of faith as well as reason they did themselves secure and invulnerable behind the ample veil of allegory which they carefully spread over every tender part of the mosaic dispensation it has been remarked with more ingenuity than truth that the virgin purity of the church was never violated by schism or heresy before the reign of Trajan or Hadrian about 100 years after the death of Christ we may observe with much more propriety that during that period the disciples of the Messiah were indulged in a freer latitude both of faith and practice than has ever been allowed in succeeding ages as the terms of communion were insensibly narrowed and the spiritual authority of the prevailing party was exercised with increasing severity many of its most respectable adherents who were called upon to renounce were provoked to assert their private opinions to pursue the consequences of the mistaken principles and to openly elect the standard of rebellion against the unity of the church the Gnostics were distinguished as the most polite, the most learned and the most wealthy of the Christian name and that general appellation which expressed superiority of knowledge was either assumed by their own pride or ironically bestowed by the envy of their adversaries they were almost without exception of the race of the Gentiles and the principal founders seemed to have been natives of Syria or Egypt where the warmth of the climates disposes both the mind and the body to indolent and contemplative devotion the Gnostics blended with the faith of Christ the most blind but obscure tenants which they derived from Oriental philosophy and even from the religion of Zoroaster concerning the eternity of matter the existence of two principles and the mysterious hierarchy of the invisible world as soon as they launched out into that vast abyss they deliver themselves to the guidance of a disordered imagination and as the paths of error are various and infinite the Gnostics were imperceptively divided into more than 50 particular sects of whom the most celebrated of here to have been the Balacinians the Valentinians the Martianites and in a still later period the Manicheans each of these sects could boast of its bishops and congregations of its doctors and martyrs and instead of the four gospels adopted by the church the heretics produced a multitude of histories in which the actions and discourses of Christ and his apostles were adopted to the respective tenants the success of the Gnostics was rapid and extensive they covered Asia and Egypt established themselves in Rome and sometimes penetrated into the provinces of the west for the most part they arose in the 2nd century flourished during the 3rd and were suppressed in the 4th or 5th by the prevalence of more fashionable controversies and by the superior ascendant of the reigning power though they constantly disturbed the peace and frequently disgraced the name of religion and contributed to assist rather than to retard the progress of Christianity the Gentile converse whose strongest objections and prejudices were directed against the law of Moses could find a mission into many Christian societies which required not from their untutored mind any belief of an antecedent revelation their faith was insensibly fortified and enlarged and the church was ultimately benefited by the conquests and was most inveterate enemies but whatever differences of opinion might subsist Orthodox, Abionites and the Gnostics concerning the divinity or the obligation of the mosaic law they were all equally animated by the same exclusive zeal by the same invoerence for idolatry which had distinguished the Jews from the other nations of the ancient world the philosopher who considered the system of polytheism as a composition of human fraud and error could disguise a smile of contempt under the mask of devotion without apprehending that either the mockery or the compliance would expose him to the resentment of any invisible or as he conceived them imaginary powers but the established religions of paganism were seen by the primitive Christians in a more odious and formidable light it was the universal sentiment both of the church and of heretics that the demons were the authors the patrons and the objects of idolatry these rebellious spirits who had been degraded from the rank of angels and cast down into the infernal pit were still permitted to roam upon earth to torment the bodies and to seduce the minds of sinful men the demons soon discovered and abused the natural intensity of the human heart towards devotion and artfully withdrawing the adoration of mankind from their creator they usurped the place and honors of the supreme deity by the success of their malicious contrivances they at once gratified their own vanity and revenge and obtained the only comfort for which they were yet susceptible the hope of involving the human species in the participation of their guilt and misery it was confessed or at least it was imagined that they had distributed among themselves the most important characters of polytheism one demon assumed the name and attributes of Jupiter, another Iscopius a third of Venus and a fourth perhaps of Apollo and that by the advantage of the long experience and aerial nature they were unable to execute with sufficient skill and dignity the parts which they had undertaken they lurked in the temples instituted festivals and sacrifices invented fables pronounced oracles and were frequently allowed to perform miracles the Christians who by the interposition of evil spirits could so readily explain every pre-natural experience were disposed and even desirous to admit the most extravagant fictions of the pagan mythology but the belief of the Christian was accompanied with horror the most trifling mark of respect to the national worship he considered as a direct homage yielded to the demon and as an act of rebellion against the majesty of God End of Chapter 15 Part 2 Chapter 15 Part 3 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Corrie Samuel Chapter 15 Progress of the Christian Religion Part 3 In consequence of this opinion it was the first but arduous duty of a Christian to preserve himself pure and undefiled by the practice of idolatry the religion of the nations was not merely a speculative doctrine professed in the schools or preached in the temples the innumerable deities and rites of polytheism were closely interwoven with every circumstance of business or pleasure of public or of private life and it seemed impossible to escape the observance of them without, at the same time renouncing the commerce of mankind and all the offices and amusements of society The important transactions of peace and war were prepared or concluded by solemn sacrifices in which the magistrate, the senator and the soldier were obliged to preside or to participate The public spectacles were an essential part of the cheerful devotion of the pagans and the gods were supposed to accept as the most grateful offering the games that the prince and people celebrated in honor of their peculiar festivals The Christians who with pious horror avoided the abomination of the circus or the theatre found himself encompassed with infernal snares in every convivial entertainment as often his friends invoking the hospitable deities poured out libations to each other's happiness When the bride, struggling with well-affected reluctance was forced into hymnal pomp over the threshold of a new habitation or when the sad procession of the dead slowly moved towards the funeral pile the Christian On these interesting occasions was compelled to desert the persons who were the dearest to him rather than contract the guilt inherent to those impious ceremonies Every art and every trade that was in the least concerned with the framing or adorning of idols was polluted by the stain of idolatry a severe sentence since it devoted to eternal misery the far greater part of the community which is employed in the exercise of liberal or mechanic professions If we cast our eyes over the numerous remains of antiquity we shall perceive that besides the immediate representations of the gods and the holy instruments of their worship the elegant forms and agreeable fictions consecrated by the imagination of the Greeks were introduced as the richest ornaments of the house the dress and the furniture of the pagan even the arts of music of painting of eloquence and poetry flowed from the same impure origin in the style of the fathers Apollo and the muses were the organs of the infernal spirit Homer and Virgil were the most eminent of his servants and the beautiful mythology which pervades and animates the compositions of their genius is destined to celebrate the glory of the demons even the common language of Greece and Rome are bounded with familiar but impious expressions which the imprudent Christian might too carelessly utter or too patiently hear the dangerous temptations which on every side lurked in ambush to surprise the unguarded believer assailed him with redoubled violence on the days of solemn festivals so artfully were they framed and disposed throughout the year that superstition always wore the appearance of pleasure and often of virtue some of the most sacred festivals in the Roman ritual were designed to salute the new callons of January with vows of public and private felicity to indulge the pious remembrance of the dead and living to ascertain the inviolable bounds of property to hail on the return of spring the genial powers of fecundity to perpetuate the two memorable areas of Rome the foundation of the city and that of the Republic and to restore during the humane license of the Saturnalia the primitive equality of mankind some idea may be conceived of the abhorrence of the Christians for such empire ceremonies by the scrupulous delicacy which they displayed on a much less alarming occasion on days of general festivity it was the custom of the ancients to adorn their doors with lamps with branches of laurel and to crown their heads with garland of flowers this innocent and elegant practice might perhaps have been tolerated as a mere civil institution but it most unhappily happened that the doors were under the protection of the household gods that the laurel was sacred to the lover of Daphne and that garlands of flowers though frequently worn as a symbol of joy or mourning had been dedicated in their first origin to the service of superstition the trembling Christians who were persuaded in this instance to comply with the fashion of their country and the commands of the magistrate laboured under the most gloomy apprehensions from the reproaches of his own conscience the censures of the church and the denunciations of divine vengeance such was the anxious diligence which was required to guard the chastity of the gospel from the infectious breath of idolatry the superstitious observances of public or private rights were carelessly practised from education and habit by the followers of the established religion but as often as they occurred they afforded the Christians an opportunity of declaring and confirming their zealous opposition by these frequent protestations their attachment to the faith was continually fortified and in proportion to the increase of zeal they combatted with the more ardour and success in the Holy War which they had undertaken against the Empire of the Demons the writings of Cicero represent in the most lively colours the ignorance, the eras and the uncertainty of the ancient philosophers with regard to the immortality of the soul when they are desirous of arming their disciples against the fear of death they inculate as an obvious though melancholy position the whole stroke of our dissolution releases us from the calamities of life and that those can no longer suffer who no longer exist yet there were a few sages of Greece and Rome who had conceived a more exalted and in some respects a juster idea of human nature though it must be confessed that in the sublime inquiry their reason had often been guided by their imagination and that their imagination had been prompted by their vanity when they viewed with complacency the extent of their own mental powers when they exercised the various faculties of memory, of fancy and of judgment in the most profound speculations or the most important labours and when they reflected on the desire of fame which transported them into future ages far beyond the bounds of death and of the grave they were unwilling to confound themselves with the beasts of the field or to suppose that a being for whose dignity they entertained the most sincere admiration could be limited to a spot of earth and to a few years of duration with this favourable pre-possession they summoned to their aid of the science or rather the language of metaphysics they soon discovered that as none of the properties of matter will apply to the operations of the mind the human soul must consequently be a substance distinct from the body pure, simple and spiritual incapable of dissolution and susceptible of a much higher degree of virtue and happiness after the release from its corporeal prison from these specious and noble principles the philosophers who trod in the footsteps of Plato deduced a very unjustifiable conclusion since they asserted future immortality but the past eternity of the human soul which they were too apt to consider as a portion of the infinite and self-existing spirit which pervades and sustains the universe a doctrine thus removed beyond the senses and the experience of mankind might serve to amuse the leisure of a philosophic mind or in the silence of solitude it might sometimes impart a ray of comfort to desponding virtue but the faint impression which had been received in the schools was soon obliterated by the commerce and business of active life we are sufficiently acquainted with the eminent persons who flourished in the age of Cicero and of the first Caesars with their actions, their characters and their motives to be assured that their conduct in this life was never regulated by any serious conviction of the rewards or punishments of a future state at the Bar and in the Senate of Rome the ablest orators were not apprehensive of giving offence to their hearers by exposing that doctrine as an idle and extravagant opinion which was rejected with contempt by every man of a liberal education and understanding since therefore the most sublime efforts of philosophy can extend no further than feebly to point out the desire the hope the probability of a future state there is nothing except a divine revelation that can ascertain the existence and describe the condition of the invisible country which is destined to receive the souls of men after their separation from the body but we may perceive several defects inherent to the popular religions of Greece and Rome which rendered them very unequal to so arduous a task 1. The bottom of their mythology was unsupported by any solid proofs and the wisest among the Pagans had already disclaimed its usurped authority 2. The description of the infernal regions had been abandoned to the fancy of painters and of poets who peopled them with so many phantoms and monsters who dispensed their rewards and punishments with so little equity that a solemn truth the most congenial to the human heart was opposed and disgraced by the absurd mixture of the wildest fictions 3. The doctrine of a future state was scarcely considered among the devout polytheists of Greece and Rome as a fundamental article of faith the providence of the gods as it related to public communities rather than to private individuals was principally displayed on the visible theatre of the present world 4. The petitions which were offered on the altars of Jupiter or Apollo expressed the anxiety of their worshippers for temporal happiness and their ignorance or indifference concerning a future life the important truth of the immortality of the soul was inculcated with more diligence as well as success in India, in Assyria in Egypt and in Gaul and since we cannot attribute such a difference to the superior knowledge of the barbarians we must ascribe it to the influence of an established priesthood which employed the motives of virtue as the instrument of ambition we might naturally expect that a principle so essential to religion would have been revealed in the clearest terms to the chosen people of Palestine and that it might safely have been entrusted to the hereditary priesthood of Aaron it is incumbent on us to adore the mysterious dispensations of providence when we discover that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is omitted in the law of Moses it is darkly insinuated by the prophets and during the long period which clasped between the Egyptian and the Babylonian servitudes the hopes as well as fears of the Jews appear to have been confined within the narrow compass of the present life after Cyrus had permitted the exiled nation to return into the promised land and after Ezra had restored the ancient records of their religion two celebrated sects the seduces and the Pharisees insensibly arose at Jerusalem the former selected from the more opulent and distinguished ranks of society were strictly attached to the literal sense of the mosaic law and they piously rejected the immortality of the soul as an opinion that received no countenance from the divine book which they revered as the only rule of their faith to the authority of Scripture the Pharisees added that of tradition and they accepted under the name of traditions several speculative tenets from the philosophy or religion of the eastern nations the doctrines of fate or predestination of angels and spirits and of a future state of rewards and punishments were in the number of these new articles of belief and as the Pharisees by the austerity of their manners had drawn into their party the body of the Jewish people the immortality of the soul became the prevailing sentiment of the synagogue under the reign of the Asmonian princes and Pontiffs the temper of the Jews was incapable of contenting itself with such a cold and languid ascent as might satisfy the mind of a polytheist and as soon as they admitted the idea of a future state they embraced it with zeal which has always formed the characteristic of the nation their zeal however added nothing to its evidence or even probability and it was still necessary that the doctrine of life and immortality which had been dictated by nature approved by reason and received by superstition should obtain the sanction of divine truth from the authority and example of Christ when the promise of eternal happiness was proposed to mankind on condition of adopting the faith and of observing the precepts of the gospel it is no wonder that so advantageous an offer should have been accepted by great numbers of every religion of every rank and of every province in the Roman Empire the ancient Christians were animated by a contempt for their present existence and by a just confidence of immortality of which the doubtful and imperfect faith of modern ages cannot give us any adequate notion in the primitive church the influence of truth was very powerfully strengthened by an opinion which however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity has not been found agreeable to experience it was universally believed that the end of the world and the kingdom of heaven were at hand the near approach of this wonderful event had been predicted by the apostles the tradition of it was preserved by the earliest disciples and those who understood in their literal senses the discourse of Christ himself were obliged to expect the second and glorious coming of the Son of Man in the clouds before that generation was totally extinguished which had beheld his humble condition upon earth and which might still be witness of the calamities of Jews under Vespasian or Hadrian the revolution of 17 centuries has instructed us not to press too closely the mysterious language of prophecy and revelation but as long as for wise purposes this error was permitted to subsist in the church it was productive of the most salutary effects on the faith and practice of Christians who lived in the awful expectation of that moment when the globe itself the glorious race of mankind should tremble at the appearance of their divine judge end of chapter 15 part 3 chapter 15 part 4 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Corrie Samuel chapter 15 progress of the Christian religion part 4 the ancient and popular doctrine of the millennium was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ as the works of the creation had been finished in six days their duration in their present state according to a tradition which was attributed to the prophet Elijah was fixed to six thousand years by the same analogy it was inferred that this long period of labour and contention which was now almost elapsed would be succeeded by a joyful sabbath of a thousand years and that Christ with the triumphant band of the saints and the elect who had escaped death or who had been miraculously revived would reign upon earth till the time appointed for the last and general resurrection so pleasing was this hope to the mind of believers that the new Jerusalem the seat of this blissful kingdom was quickly adorned with all the gayest colours of the imagination a felicity consisting only of pure and spiritual bliss would have appeared to refined for its inhabitants who were still supposed to possess their human nature and senses a garden of Eden of the pastoral life was no longer suited to the advanced state of society which prevailed under the Roman Empire a city was therefore erected of gold and precious stones and a supernatural plenty of corn and wine was bestowed on the adjacent territory in the free enjoyment of whose spontaneous productions the happy and benevolent people was never to be restrained by any jealous laws of exclusive property the assurance of such millennium was carefully inculcated by a succession of fathers from Justin Martyr and Arrhenius who conversed with the immediate disciples of the apostles down to Lactantius who was preceptor to the son of Constantine though it might not be universally received it appears to have been the reigning sentiment of the orthodox believers and it seems so well adapted to the desires and apprehensions of mankind that it must have contributed in a very considerable degree to the progress of the Christian faith but when the edifice of the church was almost completed the temporary support was laid aside the doctrine of Christ's reign upon earth was at first treated as a profound allegory was considered by degrees as a doubtful and useless opinion and was at length rejected as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism a mysterious prophecy which still forms a part of the sacred canon but which was thought to favour the exploded sentiment has very narrowly escaped the prescription of the church whilst the happiness and glory of a temporal reign were promised to the disciples of Christ the most dreadful calamities were denounced against the reigning world the edification of a new Jerusalem was to advance by equal steps with the destruction of the mystic Babylon and as long as the emperors who reigned before Constantine persisted in the profession of idolatry the epithet of Babylon was applied to the city and to the empire of Rome a regular series was prepared of all the moral and physical evils which can afflict a flourishing nation in testine discord and the invasion of the fiercest barbarians from the unknown regions of the north pestilence and famine comets and eclipses earthquakes and inundations all these were only so many preparatory and alarming signs of the great catastrophe of Rome when a country of the Scipius and Caesars should be consumed by a flame from heaven and the city of the seven hills with her palaces her temples and her triumphal arches should be buried in a vast lake of fire and brimstone it might however afford some consolation to Roman vanity that the period of their empire would be that of the world itself which as it had once perished by the element of water was destined to experience a second and a speedy destruction from the element of fire in the opinion of a general conflagration the faith of the Christian very happily coincided with the tradition of the east the philosophy of the Stoics and the analogy of nature and even the country which from religious motives had been chosen for the origin and principal scene of the conflagration was the best suited for that purpose by natural and physical causes by its deep caverns beds of sulphur and numerous volcanoes of which those of Etna of Vesuvius and of Lipari exhibit a very imperfect representation the Karmist a most intrepid skeptic could not refuse to acknowledge that the destruction of the present system of the world by fire was in itself extremely probable the Christian who founded his belief much less on the fallacious arguments of reason on the authority of tradition and the interpretation of scripture expected it with terror and confidence as a certain and approaching event and as his mind was perpetually filled with the solemn idea he considered every disaster that happened to the empire as an infallible symptom of an expiring world the condemnation of the wisest and most virtuous of the pagans on account of their ignorance or disbelief of the divine truth seems to offend the reason and the humanity of the present age but the primitive church whose faith was of a much firmer consistency delivered over without hesitation to eternal torture the far greater part of the human species a charitable hope might perhaps be indulged in favour of Socrates or some other sages of antiquity who had consulted the light of reason before that of the gospel had arisen but it was unanimously affirmed that those who since the birth or the death of Christ had obstinately persisted in the worship of the demons neither deserved nor could expect a pardon from the irritated justice of the deity these rigid sentiments which had been unknown to the ancient world appear to have infused a spirit of bitterness into a system of love and harmony the ties of blood and friendship were frequently torn asunder by the differences of religious faith and the Christians who in this world found themselves oppressed by the power of the pagans were sometimes seduced by resentment and spiritual pride to delight in the prospect of their future triumph you are fond of spectacles exclaims the stern to Tulian expect the greatest of all spectacles expect the greatest of all spectacles the last and eternal judgment of the universe how shall I admire how laugh how rejoice how exult when I behold so many proud monarchs so many fancied gods groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness so many magistrates who persecuted the name of the Lord liquefying in fiercer fires than they ever kindled against the Christians so many sage philosophers blushing in red-hot flames with their deluded scholars so many celebrated poets trembling before the tribunal not of minus but of Christ so many tragedians more tuneful in the expression of their own sufferings so many dancers but the humanity of the reader will permit me to draw a veil over the rest of this infernal description which the zealous African pursues in a long variety of affected and unfeeling witticisms doubtless there were many among the primitive Christians of a temper more suitable to the meekness and charity of their profession there were many who felt a sincere compassion for the danger of their friends and countrymen and who exerted the most benevolent zeal to save them from the impending destruction the careless polytheist assailed by new and unexpected terrors against which neither his priests nor his philosophers could afford him any certain protection was very frequently terrified and subdued by the menace of eternal tortures his fears might assist the progress of his faith and reason and if he could but once persuade himself to suspect that the Christian religion might possibly be true it became an easy task to convince him that it was the safest a most prudent party that he could embrace the supernatural gifts which even in this life were ascribed to the Christians above the rest of mankind must have conduced to their own comfort and very frequently to the conviction of infidels besides the occasional prodigies which might sometimes be affected by the immediate imposition of the deity when he suspended the laws of nature for the service of religion the Christian church from the time of the apostles and their first disciples has claimed an uninterrupted succession of miraculous powers the gift of tongues of vision and of prophecy the power of expelling demons of healing the sick and of raising the dead the knowledge of foreign languages was frequently communicated to the contemporaries of Iranias though Iranias himself was left to struggle with the difficulties of a barbarous dialect whilst he preached the gospel to the natives of Gaul the divine inspiration whether it was conveyed in the form of a waking or of a sleeping vision is described as a favour very liberally bestowed on all ranks of the faithful on women as on elders on boys as well as upon bishops when their devout minds were sufficiently prepared by a course of prayer of fastings and of vigils to receive the extraordinary impulse they were transported out of their senses and delivered in ecstasy what was inspired being mere organs of the Holy Spirit just as a pipe or flutes of him who blows into it we may add that the design of these visions was for the most part either to disclose the future history or to guide the present administration of the church the expulsion of the demons from the bodies of those unhappy persons whom they had been permitted to torment was considered as a signal though ordinary triumph of religion and is repeatedly alleged by the ancient apologists as the most convincing evidence of the truth of Christianity the awful ceremony was usually performed in a public manner and in the presence of a great number of spectators the patient was relieved by the power or skill of the exorcist and the vanquished demon was heard to confess that he was one of the fabled gods of antiquity who had impiously usurped the adoration of mankind but the miraculous cure of diseases of the most inveterate or even preternatural kind could no longer occasion any surprise when we recollect that in a day's veranias about the end of the second century the resurrection of the dead was very far from being esteemed an uncommon event that the miracle was frequently performed on necessary occasions by great fasting and the joint supplication of the church of the place and that the persons thus restored to their prayers had lived afterwards among them many years at such a period when faith could boast of so many wonderful victories over death it seems difficult to account for the skepticism of those philosophers who still rejected and derided the doctrine of the resurrection a noble Grecian had rested on this important ground the whole controversy and promised Theophilus Bishop of Antioch that if he could be gratified with the sight of a single person who had been actually raised from the dead he would immediately embrace the Christian religion it is somewhat remarkable that the prelate of the First Eastern Church however anxious for the conversion of his friend thought proper to decline this fair and reasonable challenge the miracles of the Primitive Church after obtaining the sanction of ages have been lately attacked in a very free and ingenious inquiry which though it has met with the most favourable reception from the public appears to have excited a general scandal among the divines of our own as well as of the other Protestant churches of Europe our different sentiments on this subject will be much less influenced by any particular arguments than by our habits of study and reflection and above all by the degree of evidence which we have accustomed ourselves to require for the proof of miraculous event the duty of a historian does not call upon him to interpose his private judgment in this nice and important controversy but he ought not to disemble the difficulty of adopting such a theory as may reconcile the interest of religion with that of reason of making a proper application of that theory and of defining with precision the limits of that happy period exempt from error and from deceit to which we might be disposed to extend the gift of supernatural powers from the first of the fathers to the last of the popes a succession of bishops of saints of martyrs and of miracles is continued without interruption and the progress of superstition was so gradual and almost imperceptible that we know not in what particular link we should break the chain of tradition every age bears testimony of wonderful events by which it was distinguished and its testimony appears no less weighty and respectable than that of the preceding generation till we are insensibly led on to accuse our own inconsistency if in the eighth or in the twelfth century we deny to the venerable bead or to the holy Bernard the same degree of confidence which in the second century we had so liberally granted to Justin or to Iranius if the truth of any of those miracles is appreciated by their apparent use and propriety every age had unbelievers to convince heretics to confute and idolatrous nations to convert and sufficient motives might always be produced to justify the interposition of heaven and yet since every friend to revelation is persuaded of the reality and every reasonable man is convinced of the cessation of miraculous powers it is evident that there must have been some period in which they were either suddenly or gradually withdrawn from the Christian church whatever era is chosen for that purpose the death of the apostles the conversion of the Roman Empire or the extinction of the Aryan heresy the insensibility of the Christians who lived at that time will equally afford a just matter of surprise they still supported their pretensions after they had lost their power crudulity performed the office of faith fanaticism was permitted to assume the language of inspiration and the effects of accident or contrivance were ascribed to supernatural causes the recent experience of genuine miracles should have instructed the Christian world in the ways of providence and habituated their eye if we may use a very inadequate expression to the style of the divine artist should the most skillful painter of modern Italy presume to decorate his feeble imitations with the name of Raphael or of Correggio the insolent fraud would be soon discovered and indignantly rejected whatever opinion may be entertained of the miracles of the primitive church since the time of the apostles this unresisting softness of temper so conspicuous among the believers of the second and third centuries proved of some accidental benefit to the cause of truth and religion in modern times a latent and even involuntary skepticism adheres to the most pious dispositions their admission of supernatural truths is much less an active consent than a cold and passive acquiescence accustomed long since to observe and to respect the variable order of nature our reason or at least our imagination is not sufficiently prepared to sustain the visible action of the deity but in the first ages of Christianity the situation of mankind was extremely different the most curious or the most credulous among the pagans were often persuaded to enter into a society which asserted an actual claim of miraculous powers the primitive Christians perpetually trod on mystic ground and their minds were exercised by the habits of believing the most extraordinary events they felt or they fancied that on every side were incessantly assaulted by demons comforted by visions instructed by prophecy and surprisingly delivered from danger sickness and from death itself by the supplications of the church the real or imaginary prodigies of which they so frequently conceived themselves to be the objects the instruments or the spectators very happily disposed them to adopt with the same ease but with far greater justice the authentic wonders of the evangelical history and thus miracles that exceeded not the measure of their own experience inspired them with the most lively assurance of mysteries which were acknowledged to surpass the limits of their understanding it is this deep impression of supernatural truths which has been so much celebrated under the name of faith a state of mind which is described as the surest pledge of the divine favour and of future felicity and recommended as the first or perhaps the only merit of a Christian according to the more rigid doctors the moral virtues which may be equally practised by infidels a destitute of any value or efficacy in the work of our justification End of chapter 15 part 4 Chapter 15 part 5 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Mons Bru Helsingfors Finland Chapter 15 Progress of the Christian Religion Part 5 4 But the primitive Christian demonstrated his faith by his virtues and it was very justly supposed that the divine persuasion which enlightened or subdued the understanding must at the same time purify the heart and direct the actions of the believer The first apologists of Christianity who justify the innocence of their brethren and the writers of a later period who celebrate the sanctity of their ancestors displaying the most lively colours the reformation of manners which was introduced into the world by the preaching of the Gospel As it is my intention to remark only such human causes that were permitted to second the influence of revelation I shall slightly mention two motives which might naturally render the lives of the primitive Christians much purer and more austere than those of their pagan contemporaries or their degenerate successors repentance for their past sins and the laudable desire of supporting the reputation of the society in which they were engaged It is a very ancient reproach suggested by the ignorance or the malice of infidelity that the Christians allured into their party the most atrocious criminals who as soon as they were touched by a sense of remorse were easily persuaded to wash away in the water of baptism the guilt of their past conduct for which the temples of the gods But this reproach when it is cleared from misrepresentation contributes as much to the honour as it did to the increase of the church The friends of Christianity may acknowledge without a blush that many of the most eminent saints had been before their baptism the most abandoned sinners those persons who in the world had followed though in an imperfect manner the dictates of benevolence and propriety derived such a calm satisfaction from the opinion of their own rectitude that surrendered them much less susceptible to the sudden emotions of shame of grief and of terror which have given birth to so many wonderful conversions After the example of their divine master the missionaries of the gospel disdain not the society of men and especially of women oppressed by the consciousness and very often by the effects of their vices as they emerge from sin and superstition to the glorious hope of immortality they are resolved to devote themselves to a life not only of virtue but of penitence the desire of perfection became the ruling passion of their soul and it is well known that while reason embraces a cold mediocrity our passions hurry us with rapid violence over the space which lies between the most opposite extremes When the new converts became faithful and were admitted to the sacraments of the church they found themselves restrained from relapsing into their past disorders by another consideration of a less spiritual but of a very innocent and respectable nature any particular society that has departed from the great body of the nation or the religion to which it belonged immediately becomes the object of a universal as well as individuous observation in proportion to the smallness of its numbers, the character of the society may be affected by the virtues and vices of the persons who compose it and every member is engaged to watch with the most vigilant attention over his own behaviour and over that of his brethren since, as he must expect to incur a part of the common disgrace he may hope to enjoy a share of the common reputation When the Christians of Bitinia were brought before the tribunal of the younger Pliny they assured the proconsul that far from being engaged in the unlawful conspiracy they were bound by a solemn obligation to abstain from the commission of those crimes which disturbed the private or public piece of society from theft robbery, adultery, perjury and fraud near a century afterwards Tertullian with an honest pride could boast that very few Christians had suffered by the hand of the executioner except on account of their religion their serious and sequestered life a verse to the gay luxury of the age enured them to chastity temperance, economy and all the sober and domestic virtues As the greater number were of some trade or profession it was incumbent on them by the strictest integrity and the fairest dealing to remove the suspicions which the profane are too apt to conceive against the appearances of sanctity The contempt of the world exercised them in the habits of humility kindness and patience the more they were persecuted the more closely they adhered to each other their mutual charity and unsuspecting confidence has been remarked by infidels and was too often abused by perfidious friends It is a very honorable circumstance for the morals of the primitive Christians that even their faults or other errors were derived from an excess of virtue The bishops and doctors of the church whose evidence are tests and whose authority might influence the professions, the principles and even the practice of the contemporaries had studied the scriptures with less skill than devotion and they often received in the most literal sense those rigid precepts of Christ and the apostles to which the prudence of succeeding commentators has applied a looser and more figurative mode of interpretation ambitious to exalt the perfection above the wisdom of philosophy the zealots fathers have carried the duties of self-mortification of purity and of patience to a height which it is scarcely possible to attain and much less to preserve in our present state of weakness and corruption a doctrine so extraordinary and so sublime must inevitably command the veneration of the people but it was ill calculated to obtain the suffrage of philosophers who in the conduct of this transitory life consult only feelings of nature and the interest of society these are two very natural propensities which we may distinguish in the most virtuous and liberal dispositions the love of pleasure and the love of action if the former is refined by art and learning improved by the charms of social intercourse and corrected by a just regard to economy to health and to reputation it is productive of the greatest part of the happiness of private life the love of action is a principle of a much stronger and more doubtful nature it often leads to anger, to ambition and to revenge but when it is guided by the sense of propriety and benevolence it becomes the parent of every virtue and if those virtues are accompanied with equal abilities a family, a state or an empire may be indebted for their safety and prosperity to the undaunted courage of a single man to the love of pleasure we may therefore ascribe most of the agreeable to the love of action we may attribute to most of the useful and respectable qualifications the character in which both the one and the other should be united and harmonized would seem to constitute the most perfect idea of human nature the insensible and inactive disposition which should be supposed to like destitute of both would be rejected by the common consent of mankind as utterly incapable of procuring any happiness to the individual or any public benefit to the world but it was not in this world that the primitive Christians were desirous of making themselves either agreeable or useful the acquisition of knowledge the exercise of our reason or fancy and the cheerful flow of unguarded conversation may employ the leisure of a liberal mind such amusements however were rejected with abhorrence or admitted with the utmost caution by the severity of the fathers who despised all knowledge that was not useful to salvation and who considered all levity of discourse as a criminal abuse of the gift of speech in our present state of existence the body so inseparably connected with the soul that it seems to be our interest to taste with innocence and moderation for which that faithful companion is susceptible very different was the reasoning of our devout predecessors vainly aspiring to imitate the perfection of angels they disdained or they affected the disdain every earthly and corporeal delight some of our senses indeed are necessary for our preservation other for our subsistence and others again for our information and thus far it was impossible to reject the use of them as the first moment of their abuse the unfeeling candidate for heaven was instructed not only to resist the grosser allurements of the taste or smell but even to shut his ears against the profane harmony of sounds and to view within difference the most finished productions of human art gay apparel, magnificent houses and elegant furniture were supposed to unite the double guilt of pride and of sensuality a simple and mortified appearance more suitable to the Christian who was certain of his sins and doubtful of his salvation in their censures of luxury the fathers are extremely minute and circumstantial and among the various articles which excite their pious indignation we may enumerate false hair garments of any color except white instruments of music vases of gold or silver downy pillows as Jacob proposed his head on a stone white bread, foreign wines public salutations the use of warm baths and the practice of shaving the beard which according to the expression of Tertullian is a lie against our own faces and an empire's attempt to improve the works of the creator when Christianity was introduced among the rich and the polite the observation of these singular laws was left as it would be at present to the very few were ambitious of superior sanctity but it is always easy as well as agreeable for the inferior ranks of mankind to claim a merit from the contempt of that pomp and pleasure which fortune has placed beyond their reach the virtue of the primitive Christians like that of the first Romans was very frequently guarded by poverty and ignorance the chase severity of the fathers in whatever related to the commerce of the two sexes flowed from the same principle the abhorrence of every enjoyment which might gratify the sensual and degrade the spiritual nature of man it was their favorite opinion that if Adam had preserved his obedience to the creator he would have lived forever in a state of virgin purity and that some harmless mode of vegetation might have peopled paradise with a race of innocent and immortal beings the use of marriage was permitted only to his fallen posterity as a necessary expedient to continue the human species and as a restraint however imperfect on the natural licentiousness of desire the hesitation of the orthodox casuists on this interesting subject betrays the perplexity of men unwilling to approve an institution which they were compelled to tolerate the enumeration of the very whimsical laws which they most circumstantially imposed on the marriage bed would force a smile from the young and a blush from the fair it was their unanimous sentiment that the first marriage was adequate to all the purposes of nature and of society the sensual connection was refined into a resemblance of the mystic union of Christ with his church and was pronounced to be indissoluble either by divorce or by death the practice of second nuptials was branded with the name of eagle adultery to a guilty of so scandalous an offense against christian purity were soon excluded from the honors and even from the arms of the church since desire was imputed as a crime and marriage was tolerated as a defect it was consenced with the same principles to consider a state of celibacy as the nearest approach to the divine perfection it was with the utmost difficulty that ancient Rome could support the institution of six vestals but the primitive church was filled with the great number of persons of either sex who had devoted themselves to the professional perpetual chastity a few of these among whom we may reckon to learn the origin judged it the most prudent to disarm the tempter somewhere insensible and somewhere invincible against the assaults of the flesh disdaining any anonymous flight the virgins of the warm climate of Africa encountered the enemy in the closest engagement they permitted priests and deacons to share their bed and glory amidst the flames in their unsullied purity but insult and nature sometimes vindicated her rights and this new species of martyrdom served only to introduce a new scandal into the church among the christian aesthetics however a name which they soon acquired from their painful exercise many as they were less presumptuous were probably more successful the loss of sensual pleasure was multiplied and compensated by spiritual pride even the multitude of pagans were inclined to estimate the merit for the sacrifice by its apparent difficulty and it was in the praise of these chaste spouses of christ that the fathers have poured forth the troubled stream of their eloquence such are the early traces of monastic principles and institutions which in a subsequent age have counterbalanced all the temporal advantages of christianity the christians were not less averse to the business than to the pleasures of this world the defence of our persons and property they knew not how to reconcile with the patient doctrine which enjoyed an unlimited forgiveness of past injuries and commanded them to invite the repetition of fresh insults their simplicity was offended by the use of oaths by the pomp of magistracy and by the active contention of public life nor could their humane ignorance be convinced that it was lawful on any occasion to shed the blood of our fellow creatures either by the sword of justice or by that of war even though their criminal or hostile attempts should threaten the peace and safety of the whole community it was acknowledged that under the less perfect law the powers of the jewish constitution had been exercised with the approbation of heaven by inspired prophets and by anointed kings the christians felt and confessed that such institutions might be necessary for the present system of the world and they cheerfully submitted to the authority of their pagan governors but while they inculcated the maxims of passive obedience they refused to take any active part in the civil administration or the military defence of the empire some indulgence might, perhaps be allowed to those persons who before their conversion were already engaged in such violent patience but it was impossible that the christians without renouncing a more sacred duty could assume the character of soldiers or magistates or of princes this indolent or even criminal disregard to the public welfare exposed them to the contempt and reproaches of the pagans who very frequently asked what must be the fate of the empire attacked on every side by the barbarians if all mankind should adopt the pusillanimous sentiments of the new sect to this insulting question the christian apologists returned obscure and ambiguous answers as they were unwilling to reveal the secret cause of their security the expectation that before the conversion of mankind was accomplished war, government, the roman empire and the world itself would be no more it may be observed in this instant likewise the situational first christians coincided very happily with their religious scruples and that their aversion to an active life contributed rather to excuse them from the service than to exclude them from the honors of the state and army End of chapter 15 part 5 Recording by Monsbru Helsingfors Finland


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